Cabinet Prayers for the 2017-2018 Academic Year

Academic Years

Earth Teach Me to Remember

Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep in the rain.

- Offerd by Janice Walker; Written by John Yellow Lark

Giving Thanks for Summer

Father, Creator of all, thank You for summer!
Thank you for the warmth of the sun
and the increased daylight.
Thank You for the beauty I see all around me
and for the opportunity to be outside and enjoy Your creation.
Thank You for the increased time I have to be with my friends and family,
and for the more casual pace of the summer season.
Draw me closer to You this summer.
Teach me how I can pray
no matter where I am or what I am doing.
Warm my soul with the awareness of Your presence
and light my path with Your Word and Counsel.
As I enjoy Your creation, create in me
a pure heart and a hunger and a thirst for You.

- Offered by Aaron Meis; Author Unknown

What Matters Most

Lord,
Help us
remember what matters most
in the midst of all we have to do...
Give us eyes that see
the needs of those around us.
Give us ears that hear
the meaning behind the words.
Give us hands taht reach out
to make a difference.
Give us hearts that beat
in tune with Yours
rather than with
the clock on the wall.
Remind us often
that time is intended
to be given not spent.
And even in the midst
of all our busyness
may we truly be about
Your work.
Amen.

- Offered by Gary Massa; Written by St. Vincent de Paul

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Life is

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

- Offered by Tom Hayes; Written by Mother Teresa

For a Staff Meeting

Almighty God,
Thank you for the beauty and majesty we see in your creation.
Thank you for the opportunity to care for the world you have made.
We ask that your blessing would rest on this team, that you would give us
great vision and enthusiasm for our work.
Please bless the efforts of our hands, the bonds between us and the
influence of our work in this location and beyond.
Lord, as we plan and share together now, may you guide us by your Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth.

- Offered by Jeff Coleman
- Written by LordsPrayer.com

Prayer for Good Humor

Grant me, O Lord, Good digestion, and also something to digest.
Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.
Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all this is good
and that doesn't frighten easily at the sight of evil,
but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,
nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thingcalled "I."
Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.
Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy,
and to be able to share it with others.

- Offered by Melissa Baumann;

- Authored by St. Thomas More; prayed by Pope Francis every morning

A Prayer for the End of the School Year

Lord and Teacher,
Bless all at this university
As we seek to end our year
With the grace you so generously provide.

We give thanks for the students
And the faculty, the staff,
And all who have contributed
To this year of nurturing and growth.

We affirm all the positive moments,
Of insight, of the excitement of learning,
Of accomplishment, of creativity,
Of laughter, of a sense of community.

We recognize the times of struggle,
Of difficult work, of misunderstanding,
Even of failure-we give these
To you for transformation,
So they can become seeds
That will find fertile soil.

As we head into the summer,
May we take with us
The knowledge that
You will keep us all
In your embrace so
We may rest and be restored
And so we can continue in
The ongoing discovery
of your Love.

- Author Unknown

- Offered by Janice Walker

A Leader's Prayer

Lord, as we continue to undertake the role of leader let us be
affirmed by the servant leadership we witness in your son Jesus.
Let us walk in the path He has set and let those who will, follow.

Let our greatest passion be compassion.
Our greatest strength love.
Our greatest victory the reward of peace.

In leading let us never fail to follow.
In loving let us never fail.

Amen.

- Offered by Paul Gore

A Prayer for Happiness

Please help me to rest in your happiness,
To allow a smile to linger on my lips,
To dwell within a wonderful memory,
To walk back through sunlit places.

Please help me to awake with hope,
To engage with life in all its variety,
To take in the beauty of others joys,
To touch the souls of those I meet with thankfulness.

Please help me to sing with faith,
To carry the truth close in my heart always,
To rejoice at new life and
To have peace as I age.

Please help me to indulge in love
To breath in the sweetness of intimacy,
To taste the kindness of friendship,
To feel the warmth of embrace.

Please help me not to miss
A single drop of heaven,
To catch each moment
And drink in the great joy of life.

- Offered by Steve Storck; from Living Prayers

Disturb Us, Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

- Offered by Gary Massa; Attributed to Sir Francis Drake, c. 1577

The Spiritual Journey of St. Ignatius Loyola

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages; we are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability - and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you, your ideas mature gradually - let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don't try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

- Offered by Aaron Meis
- Written by Pierre Teilhard

Prayer to St. Francis Xavier

Help me to become a hero--
One who executes both spiritual and physical feats;
One who gives himself up to be a aprt of soemthing greater;
One who departs on a journey and returns changed.

Help me to emphasize the magis--
One who does his best in every area;
One who strives to be great in all aspects of his life.

Help me become a person with and for others--
One who respects himself as well as others;
One who perfomes deeds not for himself, but for others.

Help me become a leader--
One who persuades others to do the right thing;
One who guides others through action, not talk.
We pray to you for help, St. Xavier.

- Offered by Jeff Edwards
- Written by Luke Rothan St. Xavier High School

A Petition for Leadership

Understanding that at the center of collaboration is a true comfort and sincere valuing of diversity of
people, ideas and ways of thinking...an enormously strengthening factor;

Lord, help us all believe during these difficult times, that the challenge of leading change at
Xavier University is not about leadership in control, but leadership in balance;

To that end, we collectively embrace the value of nurturing the gene of collaboration throughout all
Xavier leaders...deep into our organization.

We make this prayer not alone, but together, for Together there is Power.

- Offered and Written by John F Kucia

The Heroic and Visionary Women of Passover

On Passover, Jews are commanded to tell the story of the Exodus and to see ourselves as having lived through that story, so that we may better learn how to live our lives today. The stories we tell our children shape what they believe to be possible-which is why at Passover, we must tell the stories of the women who played a crucial role in the Exodus narrative...God alone lights the way out of the darkness in Genesis. But in Exodus, God has many partners, first among them, five brave women. There is Yocheved, Moses' mother, and Shifra and Puah, the famous midwives. Each defies Pharaoh's decree to kill the Israelite baby boys.... Finally, there is Pharaoh's daughter Batya, who defies her own father and plucks baby Moses out of the Nile. The Midrash reminds us that Batya knew exactly what she doing...

Let us pray

These women had a vision leading out of the darkness shrouding their world. They were women of action, prepared to defy authority to make their vision a reality bathed in the light of the day.

Retelling the heroic stories of Yocheved, Shifra, Puah, Miriam and Batya reminds our daughters that with vision and the courage to act, they can carry forward the tradition those intrepid women launched.

While there is much light in today's world, there remains in our universe disheartening darkness, inhumanity spawned by ignorance and hate. We see horrific examples in the Middle East, parts of Africa, and Ukraine. The Passover story recalls to all of us-women and men-that with vision and action we can join hands with others of like mind, kindling lights along paths leading out of the terrifying darkness.

- Offered by Joe Feldhaus
- Written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt

The Other Side of the Wall

There was a young woman who took great pride in the growth and care of the flowers in her flower garden. She had been raised by her grandmother who taught her to love and care for flowers as she herself had done. So, like her grandmother, her flower garden was second to none.

One day while looking through a flower catalogue she often ordered from, a picture of a plant immediately caught her eye. She had never seen blooms on a flower like that before. "I have to have it," she said to herself, and she immediately ordered it.

When it arrived, she already had a place prepared to plant it. She planted it at the base of a stone wall at the back of her yard. It grew vigorously, with beautiful green leaves all over it, but there were no blooms. Day after day she continued to cultivate it, water it, feed it, and she even talked to it attempting to coax it to bloom. But, it was to no avail.

One morning weeks later, as she stood before the vine, she contemplated how disappointed she was that her plant had not bloomed. She was giving considerable thought to cutting it down and planting something else in its place.

It was at this point that her invalid neighbor, whose lot joined hers, called over to her. "Thank you so much! You can't imagine how much I have enjoyed the blooms of that vine you planted." The young woman walked through the gate into her neighbor's yard, and sure enough, she saw that on the other side of the wall the vine was filled with blooms.

There were indeed the most beautiful blooms she had ever seen. The vine had crept through the crevices and it had not flowered on her side of the fence, it had flowered luxuriantly on the other side.

Just because you cannot see the good result of your labor does not mean that it bore no fruit.

- Offered by Jeff Coleman; Author Randy Reynolds

The Lenten Season

Almighty and ever living God,
you invite us deeper into your world, your people, your Lent.
May this time be one of outward;
seeking you in those we ofter ignore.
Help us live a Lent focused on freedom, generosity, and encounter.
Give us hearts hungry to serve you
and those who need what we have to give.

- Offered by Becky Cull, Author Unknown

Recognizing Black History Month

Educator anad civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois became the first African American to recieive a doctorate from Harvard. An agnostic for much of his life, he nonetheless wrote dozens of exquisite spiritual entreaties. In this prayer he recalls the Old Testament figure of Esther, who daringly confronts her husband, King Xerxes, and demands that he overturn his court's order to kill all the Jews of the Persian Empire.

W.E.B. Du Bois: "Give Us Grace"

Give us grace, O God, to dare to do the deed which we well know
cries to be done. Let us not hesitate because of ease, or the
words of men's mouths, or our own lives. Mighty causes are
calling us-the freeing of women, the training of children, the
putting down of hate and murder and poverty-all these and
more. But they call with voices that mean work and sacrifices
and death. Mercifully grant us, O God, the spirit of Esther, that
we say: I will go unto the King and if I perish, I perish.

A Leader's Prayer

Leadership is hard to define.
Lord, let us be the ones to define it with justice. Leadership is like a handful of water.
Lord, let us be the people to share it with those who thirst.
Leadership is not about watching and correcting.
Lord, let us remember it is about listening and connecting.
Leadership is not about telling people what to do.
Lord, let us find out what people want.
Leadership is less about the love of power and more about the power of love.

Lord, as we continue to undertake the role of leader let us be
affirmed by the servant leadership we witness in your son Jesus. Let
us walk in the path He has set and let those who will, follow.

Let our greatest passion be compassion.
Our greatest strength love.
Our greatest victory the reward of peace.
In leading let us never fail to follow.
In loving let us never fail.
Amen

- Offered by Janice Walker; Author Unknown

For Our School

Loving and Gracious God, you are indeed the giver of all good gifts and we thank you today for all your blessings, for the successful outcomes of our school events and for all our staff members, both the teaching and support members.

We ask that you bless them abundantly as we continue to seek your wisdom, guidance, courage and strength. Be with us in our deliberations and help us to be wise in the decisions we make for the good of all those who have placed their trust and confidence in our leadership.

Give us insight to lead with the integrity that our decisions may reflect what is right and good. Keep us from short-sightedness and pettiness. Help us to make decisions that are for the good of all and guard us from blind self-interest. Dear Lord, grant us the humility to always seek your will in all that we do and say.

All Glory be to you, loving God, now and always through Christ and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.

- Offered by Shawn Schuler

Prayer of a First Jesuit

With great devotion and new depth of feeling,
I hope and beg, O God, that it finally be given to me
to be the servant and minister of Christ the consoler,
the minister of Christ the redeemer,
the minister of Christ the healer,
the liberator, the enricher, the strenghtener.
To be able though you to help many--
to console, liberate and give them courage;
to bring them light not only for their spirit
but also for their bodies,
and bring as well other helps to the soul and body
of each and every one of my neighbors.
I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Offered by Steve Storck

- Blessed Peter Faber, S.J. from his Memoriale

Fall in Love

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

- Offered by Aaron Meis
- Attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

A Franciscan Blessing

May God bless us with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that we may live deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
at injustice,oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them
and turn their pain to joy.

And, may God bless us with enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in this world
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness to all our children and to the poor.

- Offered by Gary Massa (a favorite prayer of his father)

A Petition for Leadership

Dear Lord, as those entrusted with leading this great Xavier University, please help each of us become Leaders in Balance and realize the importance and impact of our way of thinking and our way of being, because leaders are built from the inside out:
Help us approach leadership as a relationship not just a position...listening, reflective, and intentional;

Help us understand that each of us embodies Xavier's brand promise...setting the tone for what is done
and valued...building trust;

And that each of us focus on a higher purpose...Xavier's mission above personal interests;

Lord, help us appreciate how collaboration with a purpose can enable us to reach better decisions and to
execute our decisions better;

And to that end, Lord, help each of us think "outside the pyramid" to share power
and authority...encouraging innovation, releasing energy and spreading influence;

Help us realize that teaching and leadership have much in common...as we search for truth and reality;

Understanding that at the center of collaboration is a true comfort and sincere valuing of diversity of
people, ideas and ways of thinking...an enormously strengthening factor;

Finally Lord, help us all believe during these difficult times, that the challenge of leading change at
Xavier University is not about leadership in control, but leadership in balance;

To that end, we collectively embrace the value of nurturing the gene of collaboration throughout all
Xavier leaders...deep into our organization.

We make this prayer not alone, but together, for Together there is Power.

- Offered and Written by John F Kucia

The Gift of Today

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of today.
Refresh me.
Invite me to discover your presence in each person that I meet and every
event that I encounter.
Teach me when to speak and when to listen, when to ponder and when to
share.
In moments of challenge and decision attune my heart to the whisperings
of your Wisdom.
As I undertake ordinary and unnoticed tasks, gift me with simple joy.
When my day goes well, may I rejoice.
When it grows difficult, surprise me with new possibilities. When life is
overwhelming, call me to Sabbath moments to restore your Peace and
Harmony.
May my living today reveal your Goodness.

- Offered by Jeff Coleman
- Written by Pat Bergen, C.S.J. in University Prayer Booklet

A Prayer In Recognition of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier

on December 3,

Introduction: Devotion to Francisco Xavier has always been immensely popular throughout the world as he fires the imagination with his heroic travels to peoples and lands across the globe.
This novena is the first of nine days of prayer including the letters he wrote.
Novena number one begins with an excerpt from St. Francis Xavier's letter to king John III of Portugal in 1549.

Francis says, "May our Lord increase the days of [your] life for many years, and may he grant you to feel in this present life his most holy will and the spiritual strength to fulfill it, so that you do and accomplish that which at the hour of your death you will wish to have done."

For us here today, consider the following:

What are the things in my life of which I am most proud?
Which of these things will I be most pleased to place before God at the closing of my life?
What do I need to do more of, or less of, if I am to present my best self to God my Lord?

The novena closes with this prayer:
Lord,
Each day you give me new life,
New graces,
New opportunities to feel your presence.
Give me the gift of attentiveness
To notice you in the people and things which surround my life; that I may grow in faith, and hope, and love.

- Offered by Doug Ruschman

Diversity Blessing

May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy,
Go with us as we embrace life in all its fullness.

May the Son who teaches us to care for stranger and foreigners,
Go with us as we try to be good neighbors in our communities.

May the Spirit who breaks down our barriers and celebrates community,
Go with us as we find the courage to create a place of welcome for all.

- Offered by John Mercer at the CDIO and CMO Assemby, 12/4/17
- Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood

Teach me to Listen

Teach me to listen, O God,
to those nearest to me,
my family, my friends, my co-workers.
Help me to be aware that
no matter what words I hear,
the message is
"Accept the person I am. Listen to me."

Teach me to listen, my caring God,
to those far from me--
the whisper of the hopeless.
the plea of the forgotten,
the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, O God my Mother,
to myself.
Help me to be less afraid
to trust the voice inside--
in the deepest part of me

Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit,
for your voice--
in busyness and in boredom,
in certainty and in doubt,
in noise and in silence.

Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen.

- Offered by Janice Walker
- Taken from "Hearts on Fire"

May We Be Satisfied

Almighty God, we ask you to bless us.
Make us glad that we are alive, because it
gives us a chance to love, and a chance to
serve you and one another.

May we be satisfied with what we have,
but never with what we are.

May we despite nothing in this world
except falsehood, meanness and injustice.

May we be governed always by our
admirations, and ever by our irritations.

May we desire nothing that belongs
to another except their friendship and
their understanding.

May we think kindly of our enemies,
often of our friends and daily of you
and your loving providence.
Amen.

- Offered by Gary Massa; Authored by Thomas P Kennealy, S.J.

Remembering Others

O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.

- Offered by Melissa Bauman

Teach me to Listen

Teach me to listen, O God,
to those nearest to me,
my family, my friends, my co-workers.
Help me to be aware that
no matter what words I hear,
the message is
"Accept the person I am. Listen to me."

Teach me to listen, my caring God,
to those far from me--
the whisper of the hopeless.
the plea of the forgotten,
the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, O God my Mother,
to myself.
Help me to be less afraid
to trust the voice inside--
in the deepest part of me

Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit,
for your voice--
in busyness and in boredom,
in certainty and in doubt,
in noise and in silence.

Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen.

- Offered by Aaron Meis
- Taken from "Hearts on Fire"

For Business Success

Lord God,

Thank you for granting us the opportunity to oversee the operations of this university. We trust in your wisdom as we seek to work hard to make it secure and prosperous. May good practice be the cornerstone of everything we do. Come reveal new opportunities and areas for expansion and development. Bless our place of work and give us wisdom and calm. Let the University be of great service to others, prospering through decency, honesty and respect for our colleagues and students. May we be strong and courageous, making wise decisions guided by the Holy Spirit and not afraid or discouraged. May this university grow and flourish, creating great opportunity and provision for all those educated herein.

- Written and offered by Steve Stork

Reflection on Kneeling

I was planning an autumnal prayer, but in light of the past weekend I decided to reflect on kneeling.

What is represented by Kneeling?

Supplication, but it seems in the history of the Church teachings, there was controversy where some thought standing was appropriate for prayer, and other insisted kneeling... a dispute that is occurring in my Parish today!
It renders one defenseless and unable to flee, a representation of submission.
Some view it as a protest, and some view it as done by sons of bitches in defiance, others see it as speech, intending to unify others around matters of social concern.
Some see kneeling as a start. A sprinter kneels at the blocks before starting a race; a baby kneels as a start of crawling.

At XU, Athletics last year issued a statement about kneeling or sitting during the Anthem: "The tradition of standing during the National Anthem has become a national topic of discussion this fall. While we encourage members of the Xavier Athletics family to stand during the National Anthem, we respect it being a personal decision."

A Federal Judge in Ohio in reinstating expelled high school students who sat during the National Anthem held that forcing anyone to participate in "symbolic patriotic ceremonies" against their will was a violation of the First Amendment to US Constitution.

Which brings me to my conclusion about kneeling:

As University Leaders we all have a Duty to call attention to injustice when we see it.

A responsibility to respect those who call injustice to our attention.

And, we must have a commitment to develop in our students the courage to stand and salute or kneel and protest for their convictions.

Since as MLK said:
"Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about what matters."

- Written and Offered by Joe Feldhaus

Beauty of this Day

God our Father,
We give you thanks for the beauty of this day, for the gift of this world,
and for the gift of each other.
We especially give You thanks for the gift of our vocation to work and
serve here at Xavier University.
As we gather here at this meeting, we ask You to be with us as we
continue to reflect on our work here and seek to advance it for the good of all.
Open our eyes, that we may see what You want us to see.
Open our ears, that in our dialogue we hear what You want us to hear.
And, open our hearts, that we may feel as You feel toward those in
greatest need of our services
Bless all that we do here in this gathering; may it be a holy work done in
Your name.
We ask this in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit.

- Offered by Jeff Coleman

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace!
That where there is hatred, I may bring love.
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.
That where there is error, I may bring truth.
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.
That where there is despair, I may bring hope.
That where there are shadows, I may bring light.
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted.
To understand, than to be understood.
To love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.

- Saint Francis of Assisi; Offered by Janice Walker

You, the One

You, the one
From whom on different paths
All of us have come.

To whom on different paths
All of us are going.

Make strong in our hearts what unites us;
Build bridges across all that divides us;
United make us rejoice in our diversity.
And at one in our witness to your peace,
A rainbow to your glory.

Amen.

- David Steindl-Rast OSB; Offered b Janice Walker

Recognizing God in All Things

At the start of a new academic year, I've been thinking about rituals. Rituals have the power to bring together a community, to inculcate a sense of identity. I suspect that, as humans, we crave the sense of belonging that rituals have always provided. Think of the feeling of standing alongside 10,000 other people, nearly all dressed alike, and chanting, "Let's Go X" in the Cintas Center. If you know that feeling, you'll understand how a particular kind of ritualized experience has become central to our communal identity at Xavier. (And I'm thankful for that).

I'm not thinking of March quite yet, though. I'm thinking of September. I'm looking forward to the spirit celebration next Tuesday -- the Mass of the Holy Spirit that Xavier has been celebrating since 1840 and that Jesuit schools have been celebrating, as I'm told by Brother Darrell, since 1548.

I'm also thinking of the new ritual introduced this year at the close of Manresa: a closing ceremony in which students each signed the Student Commitment and then was "pinned" by a Manresa leader. This new ritual symbolizes our new students' entrance into the Xavier community; it signifies their commitment to uphold our standards.

Finally, as I've been thinking of rituals, I have also reflected on the function of the opening prayers offered at Cabinet and some other meetings. Part of the power of such prayers, I believe, comes in their identity as rituals. I am reminded of what the theologian Frederick Buechner wrote in 'Wishful Thinking'. You may have heard someone quote his famous definition of vocation: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

Here's what Buechner writes about ritual:

A wedding. A handshake. A kiss. A coronation. A parade. A dance. A meal. A graduation. A Mass.
A ritual is the performance of an intuition, the rehearsal of a dream, the playing of a game.
A sacrament is the breaking through of the sacred into the profane;
A ritual is the ceremonial acting out of the profane in order to show forth its sacredness.
A sacrament is God offering his holiness to [people];
A ritual is [people] raising up the holiness of their humanity to God.
If I were to paraphrase Buechner, I might say: Rituals help us to see God in all things- even meetings. Please pray with me.
O God, we thank you for the periodic reminders you offer us to look around and to recognize you in all things, even in the most profane. We thank you for the moments in which we -- diverse individuals -- experience together a deep sense of community.
We ask you to bless the first-year students as they find themselves and their places within our community. We remember to you those in Texas recovering from a terrible storm, and those in Puerto Rico and elsewhere bracing for another.
And today we especially remember to you our country's young immigrants and their families, as they await a momentous decision about DACA and our country's immigration policy. As ever, we pray for our President and elected officials, that you may give them wisdom as they work for the common good.

- Offered by David Mengel

The New Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I'm clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.

And while you're at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I'm not you, which means I'm not perfect.
It's better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you'll no doubt remember me saying,
I can't change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think that I'm clearly smarter
than everyone else in the room,
that no one knows what they're talking about except me,
or that I alone have all the answers.

Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember that I'm
not you.

- James Martin, SJ;
- Offered by Gary Massa

The Thomas Merton Prayer

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton
- Offered by Melissa Baumann

Perfect Resignation

My God, I do not know what must come to me today.
But I am certain that nothing can happen to me
that you have not foreseen, decreed, and ordained
from all eternity.
That is sufficient for me.
I adore your impenetrable and eternal designs
to which I submit with all my heart.
I desire, I accept them all, and I unite my sacrifice to that of Jesus Christ, my divine Savior.
I ask in his name and through his infinite merits,
patience in my trials, and perfect and entire
submission
to all that comes to me by your good pleasure.

- St. Joseph Pignatelli, S.J.
- Offered by Aaron Meis