The Perfect Prayer
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When the day came for Jesus to teach his disciples about His upcoming suffering, death and resurrection, faithful Peter did not want to accept this teaching and took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Jesus responded by saying, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do" (Matthew 16:23).
Peter loved Jesus so much, he could only respond with his heart. He was thinking according to man’s way, not God’s way. We are not accustomed to thinking God’s way, and cannot develop this way of thinking without being taught through prayer.
This brings to my mind a beautiful prayer, written by a greatly-respected senior priest at the church where my husband and I returned to our faith - Father Val, who died in 2009. As far as his parishioners are concerned, he is a saint. Father Val’s life mission was to save souls, and he did just that, through his vocation and through this magnificent prayer, which he created for us so that we, like Peter, can learn to think according to God’s way, not ours.
“O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, open my mind that I may think according to Your ways – not according to man’s way or my way. Enlighten me, Lord, guard me, guide me, and teach me. Fill me with the most precious gifts of the Most Holy Trinity. Fill me with the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord – with genuine humility and obedience.”
“O Lord, open my lips only for You to speak and act through me, with me and in me all the days of my life. Without you Lord – seal my lips (keep me silent).”
“Keep me faithful to Your teaching and never let me be parted from you, O Lord. Amen.”
Reverend Valerian Rykowski 1916-2009
Memorares for you, Father Val. Pray for us. Elizabeth
Elizabeth Tichvon is a Catholic writer and Consecrated Marian Catechist under the Direction of His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Always faithful to the Magisterium, she spreads and defends the Catholic faith as a true witness of Christ, confessing the name of Jesus boldly, never ashamed of the Cross.
Elizabeth became aware of the need for the New Evangelization while in the two years of her formation as a Marian Catechist and wrote over 200 published meditations on Sacred Scripture from the daily Liturgy of the Word for various Catholic websites, and following Jesus' example, now teaches through her own parables so that by sharing her stories through social media, might bring others closer to the heart of Christ. She is currently a regular columnist at Catholic365 and as a Marian Catechist, her spiritual life is the foundation of her writing.
She completed UCLA's Graduate Program With Honors and worked as a Paralegal for 32 years before retiring from Chrysler's Office of the General Counsel in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Elizabeth's website may be found at elizabethtichvon.net
