Saint Michael Center

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HEALING THROUGH THE POWER OF JESUS

NO CONCENTRATION
Dear Father, I would like to ask your advice on praying. I feel there is a great need for prayer, but I find it impossible to pray for any length of time as my concentration is very bad. Would reading holy books or meditating on Creation, considering God's goodness, be also considered as prayer? (anon.)

I think you have answered your own question quite well in the last sentence. There are many way of praying. Whether you pray better kneeling or walking does not matter - the important thing is to pray well, with your heart. Spiritual reading and listening to good tapes is vital for prayer. On request, I did a tape recently entitled, "Different ways of Praying". If you would like to hear it, please let me know.

PRAYER IS DRY
Dear Father, my prayer life is very dry. Even though I want to pray a lot, I can't seem to get going. (Co. Meath)

I wonder are you nourishing yourself spiritually. For example, our prayer can go very dry if we are not indulging ourselves in god spiritual reading - Scripture, the Lives of the Saints etc. At least a quarter of an hour a day would be important. Aside from that, many people go through dry periods in prayer and just learn to weather the storm.

ENCOURAGEMENT Encouragement gives great healing. If you develop the gift of encouraging others, you will heal your own childish jealousies and small-mindedness.

If with pleasure you are viewing
Any work that I am doing,
If you like me or you love me, tell me now.
Don't withhold your approbation
Till the Father makes oration
And I lie with snowy lillies o'er my brow?
For no matter how you shout it,
I won't care much about it,
I won't see how many tear-drops you have shed.

SUFFERING FROM NERVES
Dear Father, I suffer from a nervous stomach. I would be very happy to be healed and to have peace, joy and calmness in my life. I have been to medical doctors and specialists and one told me to get out more with people - that I am too much on my own. (Ulster man).

Lord, we all pray together for our friend, that through your power he may experience great healing, whether instantly or gradually.

Dear friend, check out a few things:
- Do you fight fear and worry? With the help of God's grace you have to learn not to give in to worry;
- Pray for people in your childhood and youth who may have caused you anxiety and fear;
- Spend more and more time in church, resting under the radiation of God's love;
- Be open to lots of good friendships.

If you think some praise is due me
Now's the time to slip it to me
For I cannot read my tombstone when I'm dead.

More than fame and more than money
Is the comment warm and sunny,
Is the hearty warm affection of a friend,
For it gives to life a savour
And it makes me stronger, braver,
And it gives me spirit to the end
So if I earn your praise, bestow it,
If you like me, let me know it,
Let the words of encouragement be said.
Do not wait till life is over
And I'm underneath the clover-
For I cannot read my tombstone when I'm dead.

PRAYERS AND THANKS
Please pray for: A child who is being bullied in school; Those suffering from poor self-esteem; All the patients in a Co. Cork hospital; a family who lost their Dad recently in a car crash; For our country at this delicate time and for all those whose hearts are bitter...

-from "A Column of Personal Healing," by Fr. Aidan Caroll (The Irish Family, Oct. 28, 1994)

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St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

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