Prayer Page of Roger J. Wendell

www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM
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Prayer and Meditation

"The most important way to discipline the mind, and thus connect
with Truth, is to spend regular time in prayer and meditation."

- Rosemary Ellen Guiley

"If we all applied ourselves to prayer, we could free ourselves of the ills of humanity."

- Ibid.

""Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
There is no peace without the grace of God, and there is no grace of God without prayer.."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.

This was the 22 word state-sponsored prayer in New York public schools the Supreme Court struck down
in 1962. This case, Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, 82 S. Ct. 1261, 8 L. Ed. 2d 601, was the first in a line
of decisions where the Supreme Court found that voluntary prayer was unconstitutional.

My friend Smitty's meal prayer:

Thank you Lord for this food.
May it nourish us according to your will,
and Bless the hands that prepared it.
By the Holy Spirit and in Jesus' name, Amen

General George S. Patton's prayer for better weather in 1944

In December, 1944 rain and snow were making the U.S. war effort in Europe difficult. General Patton, concerned and frustrated, contacted Chaplain O'Neill and asked for a prayer for good weather. This is the prayer Chaplain O'Neil provided Patton that was then distributed to the troops along with a Christmas greeting. (the weather then cleared for six days!)

"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression of wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen"

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.

Attributed to; Sir Francis Drake - 1577

CATHOLIC PRAYERS FOR A DECEASED RELATIVE OR FRIEND

I commend you, my dear [name] to almighty God, and entrust you to your Creator.

May you rest in the arms of the Lord who formed you from the dust of the earth.

May holy Mary, the angels and all the saints welcome you now that you have gone forth from this life.

May Christ who was crucified for you, bring you freedom and peace.

May Christ who died for you admit you into his garden of paradise.

May Christ, the true Shepherd, embrace you as one of his flock.

May he forgive all your sins, and set you among those he has chosen.

May you see your Redeemer face to face, and enjoy the vision of God, forever.

Saint Ann's Media Prayer for the Faithful Departed

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer in Suffering

O Lord, your sorrowing Mother stood by your cross; help us in our sorrows to share your sufferings.

Like the seed buried in the ground, you have produced the harvest of eternal life for us; make us always dead to sin and alive to God.

Shepherd of all, in death you remained hidden from the world; teach us to love our hidden spiritual life with you and the Father.

In your role as the new Adam, you went down among the dead to release all the just there since the beginning; grant that all who are dead in sin may hear your voice and rise to new life.

Son of the living God, you have allowed us through baptism to be buried with you; grant that we may also rise with you in baptism and walk in newness of life. Amen.

Clarification:

I want to make it clear that my pages aren't here to mock, make fun of, or demean religion, spirituality, or people of faith. Although I am an atheist, I recognize that most religions and sects have organized themselves in an effort to better their lives (and future prsopects!) and our world in general.* However, I take a very dim view (and work against) any religion that wants to entangle itself with government or anyone who wants to force their belief system on others. I also cast a wary eye towards proselytizing (including those who tout secular ideals as well!) but recognize shouting out our beliefs is a right, albeit an obnoxious one at times...
Anyway, I'll admit here that I have found comfort, at times, in spiritual practices and religious gatherings - in the same way I find time alone in Nature or a beautiful concert inspiring - a religious or spiritual gathering can be calming and comforting. My experiences in this regard have included numerous (clockwise) prayer walks around Stupas, intense study and lecture sessions with the Seventh Day Adventists, a full weekend of meditation at a Zen center, years of study as a young boy in the Catholic church, praying with Shinto nuns in Japan, and lighting candles and spinning prayer wheels in Tibet.
Again, the idea here being that it is important that we all remain respectful of other people's beliefs and recognize that there is good in everyone. Nevertheless, religions (and seculaists, too...) have done a lot of damage throughout history so it's equally important to remain vigilant and to speak out against the parts of other systems that are damaging, controlling of others, or destructive to our precious little planet and the other life that shares it with us. None of us are here very long so let's do what's right while we can...
- Roger J. Wendell, Golden, Colorado

* Additionally, Judeo-Christian values are needed if society is to survive...

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