love

Prayer for a love one who suffers

/ Vincent Chough / Leave a comment

Everyone has someone in their lives that isn’t doing so well right now. Some might even be facing enormous, life-changing challenges. And even though it’s not about you, it still hurts to see someone you care about suffering so much.

Sometimes, a person that suffers can get angry or bitter. They might even take it out on you. Or they put a distance between the two of you. And that just makes the pain even worse. Even though you know their wounds can cause strong or even irrational reactions, it still hurts your heart.

You might get angry or feel distant too. But deep down you feel sadness more than anything, because you know your loved one is struggling and hurting so much.

May this prayer accompany you while you stand by a loved one who suffers. Lean deeper into your faith, and give up your loved one’s suffering — and yours — to the Lord.

“So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.“

Matthew 18:14

Prayer for a loved one who suffers

O merciful Lord,

My loved one suffers. My loved one hurts.

Can you see my beloved?

Do you see our hurt and pain?

How can it not affect me when my loved one struggles so much right now?

Harsh words, silence, misunderstanding… it all pours out from the wounds of my beloved.

And my heart feels sore, my soul weary and wounded.

Still, if there is one thing you have shown me, if there is one thing I believe, it is this:

Love endures.

Let my love grow wider and stronger.

O Lord, let it cast deep roots into the love of Christ Jesus.

And even if the hurt grows deeper, may my love burn even stronger.

I may not always feel happy. I may even cry sometimes.

But my love will not fade. I will not abandon my beloved.

Let my love stay, O Lord, as your love stays with me.

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

. . . . . . .

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Sacred Heart

/ Vincent Chough / 3 Comments

What a wonderful mystery, the Sacred Heart of Jesus! There we discover so many secrets about God and about ourselves.

In his great mercy and wisdom, God choose to become Man. So instead of being distant, far away, and hard to comprehend — the Lord closed the gap. He came down to our level to teach us and to serve us.

God as Man is one of the greatest mysteries ever revealed to humankind. And it makes complete sense. How else could we possibly get to know God, if not in human form?

The Creator revealed himself to us as a human. That way he shows us how to live and how to love. He shows us how to love with a completely human heart.

I led them with cords of compassion,
    with the bands of love,

Hosea 11:4

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Sacred Heart

A child’s heart. Innocent and pure.

A curious heart that watched, listened, and learned.

A heart that grew in strength and wisdom.

A pierced heart. Deeply wounded, bleeding for others.

Is your heart that much different than mine?

I cannot love as you do.

I cannot love the Father like you do.

I cannot love all humankind like you.

But you, O Lord, chose to live like me and hurt like me. You did not hide your heart from the pain.

Any darkness in my heart, any weakness or fear… these things tempt me to harden my heart. I try to close the door.

But you say to me, Wait for me child.

You offer your heart to me, wide open, giving and forgiving.

You move past the pain to set me free.

And so, I find myself in a spacious place. A place full of the light of the Lord.

There I roam freely in the meadows of your grace.

And there I find many others who have been set free by the love of the Lord.

What great joy to find oneself in the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

Let my love

/ Vincent Chough / 4 Comments

Sometimes it seems like we struggle to love freely these days. Have we grown cold over the years? Are we too cautious with our love?

True love is decisive and courageous. It’s not foolish, but it doesn’t make calculations either. Somehow, true love just knows. It’s secure. It’s sure.

This kind of love comes from heaven. It comes from God. And his love enables us to love like he does. And God loves us with a human heart. He loves us with the heart of Jesus Christ.

I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. 

John 17:23

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Let my love

Why do I hold back?

Why can’t my love be free?

Something must have happened. Some kind of hurt. Some kind of shame.

And so, I got cautious, wary, defensive. Scared. And I stopped loving freely.

Or maybe I’m not loving anyone at all.

But not you, O Lord. That’s not how You love.

You hold nothing back. You have no fear.

Your perfect love drives out all fear.

Let me love that way, O Lord. Let me love your way.

Let me not be afraid anymore.

Let my love be open, giving and wise.

I’m not interested in foolishness, but instead in life getting and life-giving love.

A strong love that thrives. A love that casts out doubt.

Let my love be like your love, O Lord.

A love that heals the hurt, and removes the shame, a love that sets me free.

Make my heart strong

/ Vincent Chough / Leave a comment

We’ve all been beat up and knocked down at some point in our lives. Nobody lives pain free. But if we try to avoid pain at all costs, what happens? What happens when you are afraid to feel?

Nobody should seek meaningless suffering, but you can’t deny your reality either. And if the pain makes you close your heart, it can lead to an emotional or spiritual death.

When the hurt from this world gets the best of you, it’s time to return to the only place you can trust with your soul. Return to the Lord. He will lift you up and restore you. He will restore your heart.

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A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

Make my heart strong

The world can be so cruel and unkind.

Contradiction, betrayal, lies – yours and theirs.

Wounds appear upon your flesh, upon your soul.

Why, O Lord, why?

Your heart hurts.

It shuts down. It turns to stone.

You don’t want to hurt anymore.

But the cold, hard heart can’t feel.

The cold, hard heart can’t love.

What if your heart could be strong again?

What if you weren’t afraid to feel anymore?

What if you weren’t afraid to love?

The Lord Jesus Christ does this for you.

He gives his heart to you. It bleeds for you.

He loves you with a human heart.

It feels the pain. It suffers the wounds.

Just like yours.

But the heart of Christ is strong. Brave and faithful to the end. His loving heart conquers sin and death.

Take away my cold, hard heart, O Lord.

Give me a strong heart of flesh.

Give me the heart of Jesus.

Come what may, let me feel. Let me love.

Brave and faithful to the end.