Realise that God is speaking to you in His Word. Jesus is the Word of God. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart so that you may truly hear God speak to you. It is preferable to pray these words aloud, so that they may sink deep within you. And pray them with faith, knowing that God is God and is Lord of all.
Come to Me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28–30
Fresh and green are the pastures Where He gives me repose Near restful waters He leads me to revive my drooping spirits.
Psalm 22/23:2–3
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
Isaiah 43:1
You are my hiding place, O Lord; You save me from distress, You surround me with cries of deliverance.
Psalm 31/32:7
Commit your life to the Lord, trust in Him and He will act.
Psalm 36/37:5
I am going to lure her and will lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart.
Hosea 2:14
She, the faithful one, whose mind is steadfast, who keeps the peace, because she trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:2–3
We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love Him, with all those that He has called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope, and this hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us.
Romans 5:3–5
I have loved You with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my affection for You.
Jeremiah 31:3
When you seek Me you shall find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will let you find Me.
Jeremiah 29:13–14
Courage, get up; He is calling you. Mark 10:50
Peace I bequeath to you, My own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is My gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27
I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.
Ezekiel 36:26
My grace is enough for you: My power is at its best in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8–9
I know the plans I have in mind for you – it is Yahweh who speaks – plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you.
Jeremiah 29:11, 13
Jesus said, ‘I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.’
John 10:10
At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
Psalm 29/30:5
Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you.
Psalm 54/55:22
If anyone wants to be a follower of Mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24
‘Lord, how often should I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.’
Matthew 18:21–22
I am the good shepherd; I know My own and My own know Me.
John 10:14
If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
Since he clings to me in love, I will free him, protect him for he knows My name. When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you.’ I will save him in distress and give him glory.
Psalm 90/91:14–15
In God alone is my soul at rest. Psalm 62/63:1
O Lord, You search me and You know me, You know my resting and my rising, You discern my purpose from afar. You mark when I walk or lie down, all my ways lie open to You. Before ever a word is on my tongue You know it, O Lord, through and through. Behind and before You besiege me, Your hand ever laid upon me. Too wonderful for me this knowledge, too high, beyond my reach.
O where can I go from Your spirit, or where can I flee from Your face? If I climb the heavens, You are there. If I lie in the grave, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn and dwell at the sea’s farthest end, even there Your hand would lead me, Your right hand would hold me fast. If I say: ‘Let the darkness hide me and the light around me be night’, even darkness is not dark for You and the night is as clear as the day.
For it was You who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank You for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all Your creation. Already You knew my soul, my body held no secret from You when I was being fashioned in secret and moulded in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw all my actions, they were all of them written in Your book; every one of my days was decreed before one of them came into being.
To me, how mysterious Your thoughts, the sum of them not to be numbered! If I count them, they are more than the sand; to finish, I must be eternal, like You. O search me, God, and know my heart. O test me and know my thoughts. See that I follow not the wrong path and lead me in the path of life eternal.
Monasticism....not only offers the possibility of peace and interior life, but also the ability to witness intensely to the Christian conception of man and the world marked by a deep harmony which far from opposing spirit and matter, the individual and society , God and man, unifies all in a loftier plan of beauty, solidarity and holiness. Man was created beautiful and holy by God.
