Celtic Dauy Prayer

We move on in our Celtic daily prayer to this call: Do you seek Him with all your soul? Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy. 

In Matthew 16:26 we find Jesus saying to the crowds, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” The word used for soul here can also denote the breath of life, the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing, life itself.

Author John Ortberg describes the soul this way, “We each have an outer life and an inner one. My outer self is the public, visible me. My accomplishments, my work, and my reputation lie there. But inside is my soul that part of me that speaks in silence to others but yells at me. It's the inside stuff of real life - what is your soul saying to you - how is your soul? (Is it connected to the breath of life the spirit or is it deflated by the things of this world and self?)… My inner life is where my secret thoughts and hopes and wishes live. Because my inner life is invisible, it is easy to neglect. No one has direct access to it, so it wins no applause.”

This is soul-life is what we are called to seek God with. John Ortberg continues, “For the soul to be well, it needs to be with God. The soul seeks God with its whole being. Because it is desperate to be whole, the soul is God-smitten and God-crazy and God-obsessed. My mind may be obsessed with idols; my will may be enslaved to habits; my body may be consumed with appetites.”

O Jesus!

My soul thirsts for you! – for your Spirit’s living waters;

Your love is better than life! – better than any other thing;

My whole being from the inside out yearns for your presence;

Your presence with me is the only thing that satisfies me;

My personality clings to you to hold me together, upright;

Your personality – wonderfully complete – is what embraces me;

My inner depths look up to you, longing for your smile;

Your deep mercy and grace is all that I live for;

My soul cries out to you, to flow in your life now and forever.

Your life in me and through me to others is my greatest joy. Amen