The number one trusted online resource for Catholic values
Menu
A+ A A-

An End…and a Beginning

  • SERVANT OF GOD CATHERINE DE HUECK DOHERTY

Dear Jesus, I have done so little for you in the past year. 


simonpeterI do not know what you have in store for me for this year, yet I accept it with its joys, sacrifices, sorrow, pain, and even death — joyfully — for it is your choice.  You will help me to do my part and cooperate with your grace, refrain from my habitual sins, overcome my faults and defects.  O Jesus, you know that without you I am nothing.  Be with me! Allow me to spend this coming year in your love and service, without counting the cost.

Bless me and my family, those with whom I come into contact — especially those who dislike me.  They have good reasons.  Bring to your feet those who seek you, groping for your Light.  Bless and help the dying, the poor, the sick I deal with.  Give the gift of holiness to all the priests I know and also the religious.  Bless all those who love me and help me.  Give strength, health and wisdom to the pope and bishops.  Bless this house and all who are in it.  Let me always remember that all that I am, all that I have are yours.

Come, Lord.  Visit on us peace that we might rejoice before you (Ps 106:4-5).  Sweet Lord, give me the peace of your Holy Spirit, the peace where nothing troubles me in my tiring day.  Grant that when I am overburdened, the thought of your peace may come — beautiful and calming.  The little irritations of this world are like needle pricks.  Give me the strength not to notice them.  Give me the peace of my faith that no worldly assault may shake.  Help me.  Bless me.  Let me radiate your peace, Jesus of Nazareth, that in this impatient world your peace might be the peace of a turbulent sea quieted by your word.

This is Meaghen Gonzalez, Editor of CERC. I hope you appreciated this piece. We curate these articles especially for believers like you.

Please show your appreciation by making a $3 donation. CERC is entirely reader supported.

dividertop

Acknowledgement

Catherine Doherty, CM. "An End...and a Beginning." excerpt from O Jesus: Prayers from the Diaries of Catherine de Hueck Doherty. (Madonna House Publications, 1996).

Reprinted with permission of Madonna House Publications.

The Author

dohertyCatherine de Hueck Doherty († 1985), born in Russia, established the Friendship House in Harlem, New York, in 1938, and later the Madonna House in Combermere, Canada. She is author of Grace in Every Season, Soul of My Soul Coming to the Heart of Prayer, Dear FatherLiving The Gospel Without Compromise, An Experience of God Identification with Christ — a Road to the Mystical Life, and Catherine de Hueck Doherty: Essential Writing.

Copyright © 1996 Madonna House Publications