Q: Hi! I’m looking for the opening prayer you use in Contemplative Outreach Ltd. The one I’m used to, but cannot find a reference to anywhere, being so long ago, is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, alive at the centre of our being, we wish to consent, in love, to you. May our Sacred Word, to which we shall return when our thoughts wander from you, bring us back to your Divine Presence and Action within. Indeed this is the prayer we use when we meet as a group in Advent and Lent here in Bristol. Now I understand that this wording is ALL WRONG. Help!!
A: This is what I remember: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier alive at the center of my being, I wish to surrender in love to you as I consent to Your divine presence and action in my life. Here I am Lord, here I am Lord, be it done to me according to your word. So let us begin by ever so gently returning to the Sacred Word whenever we become aware of anything else. Amen.
More importantly, no prayer from the heart is ever wrong!
–Fr. Carl