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Setting: Make a prayer space in your room. Whatever else you place there, put a crucifix, a bowl of water and a lit candle. Begin your prayer with the Sign of the Cross, then –
Give thanks for this new day:
God of life and light, I thank you for another new beginning.
For the light shining through my window
For the trees and their colours
The birds and their songs
Though I am, for some days, alone
The beauty I see speaks your presence
And gives me confidence to live this new day.
Frequent handwashing plays a significant role in preventing the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The virus can survive on hands for up to ten minutes and in that short time can be transferred to anything touched.
Cleanliness is vital in the fight against this new virus.
It is appropriate, therefore, to open our special 14 prayer days with a focus on water, the first element in creation.
Water: so essential for life, but with the potential to be extremely destructive.
Water sustains all forms of life, including the life of our planet.
Droughts – the absence of water, prevent life and growth. Floods – the excess of water, destroy life.
Baptism is the gateway to faith for Christians.
By “water and the Spirit” we are gifted new life, becoming “a new creation”, washed free of the virus of selfishness and made one with the People of God, the Church.
In Baptism there is both a washing away and a washing into life.
Reflect today on your own baptism
How has your faith developed since that momentous occasion?
It’s what happens after baptism that shapes the way you will experience its effects. How are you living your new life?
Consider
Baptism is the sign instituted by Jesus to unite us with his own baptism.
He asked his disciples when they were seeking his favour, “Are you willing to be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?” St Paul made this perfectly clear:
When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. [Romans 6:3-4]
- Give yourself 5-10 minutes meditating on the above. If you no longer have your baptism candle, or have no other candle, light a table lamp or torch. Let its glow accompany you in this quiet time.
- After your mediation write about what you have experienced, what you heard in the scripture, what dying and rising with Jesus might mean for you today and in the future.
- If you have access to the song, Christ Be Our Light [Bernadette Farrell], play it, listening carefully to the words. What do they say to you about the consequences of your baptism? This song will also help you know that, though you are now alone, you remain linked to all the baptised. Here is the chorus:
Christ be our light
Shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness
Christ be our light
Shine in your Church gathered today.
Pray
Pray one (or more) of these three Rosary decades, while giving thanks for those who have shared faith with you and helped it to develop.
- The Baptism of Jesus – 2nd Mystery of Light
- The Crucifixion of Jesus – 5th Sorrowful Mystery
- The Resurrection of Jesus – 1st Glorious Mystery
Closing Prayer
Awaken Me
Risen One,
come to meet me
in the garden of my life.
Lure me into elation.
Revive my silent hope.
Coax my dormant dreams.
Raise up my neglected gratitude.
Entice my tired enthusiasm.
Give life to my faltering relationships.
Roll back the stone of my indifference.
Unwrap the deadness of my spiritual life
Impart heartiness in my work.
Risen One,
send me forth as a disciple of your unwavering love,
a messenger of your unlimited joy.
Resurrected One,
may I become ever more convinced
that your presence lives on,
and on, and on,
and on.
Awaken me!
Awaken me!
- Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary, 2002. Used with permission, Ave Maria Press
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