Thoughts And Prayers 2023

“In his unflinching and resonant new novel, Bryan Bliss shows that there is no straight line through trauma, no easy recipe for healing. Instead, in three loosely connected stories of young people bound by an all-too familiar tragedy, he deftly illuminates the small moments of human connection and resolve that might just lead to a place of grace.”—Gayle Forman, bestselling author of If I Stay and I Have Lost My Way Fight. Flight. Freeze. What do you do when you can’t move on, even though the rest of the world seems to have? Powerful and tense, Thoughts & Prayers is an extraordinary novel that explores what it means to heal and to feel safe in a world that constantly chooses violence. Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzen have little in common. Claire fled to Minnesota with her older brother, Eleanor is the face of a social movement, and Brezzen retreated into the fantasy world of Wizards & Warriors. But a year ago, they were linked. They all hid under the same staircase and heard the shots that took the lives of some of their classmates and a teacher. Now, each one copes with the trauma as best as they can, even as the world around them keeps moving. Told in three loosely connected but inextricably intertwined stories, National Book Award–longlisted author Bryan Bliss’s Thoughts & Prayers follows three high school students in the aftermath of a school shooting. Thoughts & Prayers is a story about gun violence, but more importantly it is the story of what happens after the reporters leave and the news cycle moves on to the next tragedy. It is the story of three unforgettable teens who feel forgotten. For readers of Jason Reynolds, Marieke Nijkamp, and Laurie Halse Anderson.

There are moments when the spirit is mute and powerless to give utterance to its interior yearning. It feels the need of a vibrant word to rouse it from its numbness and voice its voiceless aspiration. Hence attempts to provide, in one form or another, daily thoughts for the day's round are coincident with the rising of the religious consciousness. The ancient Forest-Books or Upanishads of the Vedlc period were but the accumulated effort of great sages to help those who surrounded them in their woodland hermitage, to meet the daily problem with triumphant heart. The mediaeval breviaries and manuals of devotion were written or compiled to the same end. The present volume is another contribution to this daily sacrament of prayer and holy thought. The idea of preparing it is not of recent conception. As far back as 1812 Swami Parama-nanda wrote me from Switzerland "Other day I was thinking a little of the next book (from your letters). Can't we call it A Book of Daily Thoughts and Prayers' ? What do you think of it ?" I had written to him that the idea had come to me to gather from his later letters and certain notes of his teaching material for a companion volume to the "Path of Devotion," made up from earlier letters. The prayers were caught with the same stealthy silent pencil at the moment of their utterance. They sound in consequence the more living note of spoken supplication. The quotations from the Scriptures are from the Swami's translations. Coming from such intimate sources, the words which follow possess special helpfulness in the intimate inward strivings of each day. They have been classified and arranged in consecutive and cumulative sequence. The thought is carried forward from day to day, so that at the end of a month a new and defined impression will be made on the character. Each day brings its salient thought to be held through the waking hours in continuous mindfulness a brief lesson amplifies this and imbeds it more deeply in the consciousness a prayer feeds and strengthens the natural upward-reaching devotional aspirations of the heart. A few lines from the Swami's sacred and illumined poems are given as a daily exercise in memorizing. Memorizing is one of the most productive of spiritual practices. It provides a rich inner library to which one can turn in the moment of emptiness or distress. A single line called up in memory will sometimes turn the thought into an entirely fresh and wholesome channel. Thus on each page will be found food for all the faculties of the aspiring spirit. The Swami's words lend themselves with peculiar aptitude to a work of this nature. His sentences have the focused, shining quality of a finely-cut gem which requires no embellishment of ornate setting. They stir the higher, holier impulses of the soul and impel to consecrated living. They carry forward by their inherent vitality and strength. The book calls for no other introduction than itself. With its tender counsel and ringing appeal it will find its way, by the force of its spiritual power, into the heart and sanctuary of every seeker whose hand it reaches. DEVAMATA. ANANDA-ASHRAMA, APRIL, 1926. JANUARY : LIVING CONSECRATION.. FEBRUARY : STEADFAST RESOLUTION "MARCH : POWER OF HOLINESS- APRIL : BLISS OF HIGHER VISION.. MAY : HUMILITY, SIMPLICITY AND PURITY OF HEABT. JUNE : FAITH AND COURAGE. JULY : ' BLESSING OF SERVICE- AUGUST : TRANQUILLITY AND CHEERFULNESS-SEPTEMBER : SELFLESS LOVE AND DEVOTION.. OCTOBER : RIGHT THOUGHT AND RIGHT ACTION. NOVEMBER : UNFALTEKING TRUST AND SURRENDER. DECEMBER : REDEEMING POWER WITHIN. 7 Be act offended if my mortal hand Lacketfe grace to offer Thee oblation. Yet this hand is Thy gift Sanctified by Thy touch. I will, use it humbly And lift this offering of love to Thy Feet. I will cherish my mind For it hath brought me thoughts of Thee I will cherish my heart For it hath given me vision of Thee And I will crown this life with a crown of bliss For it hath brought me to Thy gate.

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist ECPA Top Shelf Award Winner Taylor Schumann never thought she'd be a victim of gun violence. But one spring day a man with a shotgun walked into her workplace and opened fire on her. While she survived, she was left with permanent wounds, both visible and invisible. In When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough, Taylor invites us to see what it means to be a survivor after the news vehicles drive away and the media moves on. Healing is slow and complicated. As she suffered through surgeries, grueling rehabilitation, and counseling to repair the physical injuries and emotional trauma, she came face to face with the deep and lasting impact of gun violence. As she began grappling with the realities, Taylor experienced another painful truth: Christians have largely been absent from this issue. Gun violence undercuts God's vision of abundant life and community—and the silence of the church rings loudly in the ears of survivors and families of victims. Taylor weaves her own incredible story of survival and recovery into a larger conversation about gun violence in our country. With compassion and honesty, she encourages readers to reconsider their own engagement with the issue and to join her in envisioning a more hopeful, safer future for our nation. Move beyond thoughts and prayers and enter into grace-filled dialogue and action.

Prayers to guide your journey of raising kids in a complicated world. In an age of distraction and overwhelm, finding the words to meaningfully pray for our children--and for our journey as parents--can feel impossible. Written with warmth and welcome, To Light Their Way gives voice to your prayers when words won't come. Filled with more than 100 modern liturgies, this book guides you into an intentional conversation with God for your children and the world they live in. From everyday struggles like helping your child find friends or thrive in school to larger issues like praying for a brighter world rooted in peace and truth, these pleas and petitions act as a gentle guide, reminding us that while our words may fail, God never does. At the core of To Light Their Way is the deepest of prayers: that our children will experience the love of God so deeply that their lives will be an outpouring of love that lights up the world.

Dallas Willard Center Book Award Finalist Jesus is speaking to us here and now. Lectio divina is a practice of Scripture reading that treats the Bible not only as a text to be examined, but also as the living Word of God spoken anew to us. Experienced Bible teacher Jan Johnson gives us forty Scripture meditations, organized topically, giving us the tools we need to practice lectio divina on our own. Each meditation can be used both individually and in group settings, and includes an introductory space of quiet along with an optional preparatory exercise; the full text of a passage from Scripture with explanations of unusual or important words, and with cultural and historical background as needed; cues to help us enter the text; space to contemplate the passage, respond to God in prayer and rest in his presence; and an exercise to "try on" one of the main ideas of the passage in our daily lives. Meeting God in Scripture moves us beyond merely understanding what the text meant in its original context to a direct spiritual encounter with Christ.

Where do you seek God? Are you waiting for him to appear in a monumental, life-altering event? In God Moments, Catholic blogger Andy Otto shows you how to discover the unexpected beauty of God’s presence in the story of ordinary things and in everyday routines like preparing breakfast or walking in the woods. Drawing on the Ignatian principles of awareness, prayer, and discernment, Otto will help you discover the transforming power of God’s presence in your life and better understand your place in the world. Andy Otto found God’s presence in surprising moments during his life—when, as a Jesuit scholastic, he taught children in Jamaica and also as he discerned the call to marriage with his wife. By combining elements of Ignatian spirituality with the lessons that came from his experiences, Otto identified three practices that helped him find God in all things: Awareness—Gain an understanding that God is present in the ordinary messiness of our lives such as battle with depression or sharing in the struggle of a friend. Prayer—Develop a prayer life using Ignatian practices such as asking for a morning grace and examining how your prayer was answered at the end of the day. That way you can focus on a personal relationship with God that finds everyday physical activities such as making a meal as an opportunity to talk to him. Discernment—The more you are aware of God’s presence and draw closer to him in prayer, the better you can learn how to plug into God’s narrative of the world in a way that enables you to participate in the divine story through the use of your gifts and talents. With God Moments as a guide, you’ll have a better understanding of how to seek personal wholeness in the reality of God’s presence in the ordinary and learn to accept his invitation to participate in his transformation of the world.

The classic collection of personal prayers updated in modern, accessible language.