Category: Meditations

Daily meditations to provide inspiration

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Spread Love

“Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”—1 John 3:18

St. Teresa of Calcutta’s passion was to love, help, and care for the “poorest of the poor,” as she called them. She began by going into the slums of Calcutta and helping the lepers, the poor, the sick, and the dying. This tiny woman, less than five feet tall, had only prayer and love as the tools for her calling. She once said, “Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” You and I can spread love by taking two simple steps: Step one is prayer, and step two is focus. Before you meet someone or are in contact with him or her, first pray for God’s love to shine through you. Then try to focus on that person’s situation, needs, and thoughts. They will sense your genuine concern and love for them. How to start? First, smile when you meet him or her; second, truly listen; and third, speak the truth with gentleness. That’s the way to create a friendship and bring others into the joy we have in our relationship with God. The result? No one will ever come to you without leaving happier.

Lord, help me to spread love today—your love in me and through me. Help me to truly love everyone I meet. Amen.

 —from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Live with Love

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, … you did it to me.”—Matthew 25:40

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and given the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan in 1985. She was canonized a saint in 2016. She spent her life loving the poorest of the poor. She never criticized people, governments, or individuals for faults that might have contributed to sickness or poverty. She once said: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” If I feel like criticizing someone, that person probably needs my help, my love, and maybe my prayer. Love helps; judging negatively doesn’t. Prayer helps—and prayer works! Instead of judging someone, take the time to love that person. That attitude of love will help that person— and help you as well.

Lord, open my eyes to see you in the very least of those I encounter. Give me the wisdom to love others instead of judging them. Amen.

—from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Pray, Trust, and Don’t Worry

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”—Matthew 6:34

Occasionally someone will share with me their fears—about the economy, the direction of our moral standards, the aftermath of the pandemic. So many things seem out of our control. The apostles of Jesus were in a boat with him and panicked when a huge storm arose at sea threatening to sink them. They awakened Jesus, who immediately calmed the sea and wind and told them, “I am with you—I care—where is your faith and trust in me?” Their fear was gone. God was there and clearly in charge. The most repeated phrase in the Bible—over two thousand times—is “Fear not.” God’s messengers can confidently say, “Be not afraid” because they know that God is in charge of history; God is always present and loves us. Jesus said, “Fear is useless, what is needed is trust.” And I love the counsel of St. Padre Pio: “Pray, trust, and don’t worry!” When we are fearful, we need to trust in God’s loving presence and power to help. He cares!

Lord, help me to live in this present moment, for it is in the present that you reveal yourself to me. Let me have the wisdom to leave the past to your mercy and the future to your Divine Providence. Amen.

—from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Accept Your Weakness

“Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” —2 Corinthians 12:10

Jesus began his preaching by giving us the eight Beatitudes. The very first one is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? It simply means “Blessed are those who know their need for God.” They realize they are weak and finite, and they know that God’s love is the infinite source of strength for them each day. If you feel “poor in spirit,” your human soul probably feels empty; maybe that’s good. Maybe now there is room for a deeper relationship with God.

St. Francis of Assisi repeatedly prayed, “Who are you, God, and who am I?” If we make room for this prayer in our poverty of spirit, we make room for the great truth of life: God is love, and we are his beloved. Jesus clearly tells us that God loves us not in spite of our weakness, but because of our weakness. Being “poor in spirit,” we become blessed because our spiritual poverty opens us up to true riches, God’s riches. When you feel poor in spirit, thank God, for you are open at that moment to his mercy, grace, and joy. Yes, the kingdom of heaven is yours!

Lord, help me to realize that my weaknesses are open doors for you. Amen.

 —from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Maintain Your Peace

“And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”—Matthew 6:27

We are all familiar with the adage “Haste makes waste.” Well, it’s true. Yet we always seem to be in a hurry, especially if you are a Type-A personality like I am. And sure enough, we often trip over ourselves. Don’t be in such a hurry that you lose your inner peace. It’s bad for your physical and mental health. Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not as valuable as you and your peace of soul. I try to repeat to myself the counsel of St. Francis de Sales: “Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.” For the next few hours, don’t lose your inner peace for anything. Begin now. And begin again if you fall away from that peace.

Lord, give me the grace to trust in your divine plan in all things. Amen.

—from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Live Your Life without Fear

“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”—John 14: 27

Etty Hillesum was a vibrant young Jewish woman who lived in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and died in Auschwitz in 1943. In the months before she was arrested, she underwent a profound transformation through psychotherapy. She discovered God and refused to give in to hatred, even when facing the evil of the Holocaust. She refused to worry about what might be her fate.

She journaled: “If one burdens the future with one’s worries, the future cannot grow organically. I am filled with confidence, not that I shall succeed in worldly things, but that even when things go badly for me, I shall still find life good and worth living.” She realized that the fear of suffering causes more pain than the suffering itself does.

About these fears she wrote: “We have to fight fears daily, like fleas, those many small worries about tomorrow. for they sap our energy….We must not allow ourselves to become infested with thousands of petty fears, and worries, so many motions of no confidence in God. Everything will turn out all right.”

Be confident! Trust in God to handle the future.

Lord, like Etty, help me to discover you anew so my life can unfold organically. The future is yours. The present is mine. Help me to live it well. Amen.

—from the book Three Minutes with God: Reflections and Prayers to Encourage, Inspire, and Motivate
by Monsignor Frank Bognanno

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Minute Meditation – Living from Hope

“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.”—St. John XXIII

Change in our lives can be difficult. Reflect on some of the major changes in your life and what you’ve learned about yourself from them.

—From the book Guided by the Saints: A 30-Day Journal for Inspiration and Direction
by Susan Hines-Brigger

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Minute Meditation – The Grace of Forgiveness

“In God’s will, there is great peace.”—St. Josephine Bakhita 

For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave, but her spirit was always free, and eventually that spirit prevailed. Given what she endured, we would understand if St. Josephine had harbored anger and resentment toward those who enslaved her. She chose, however, to move beyond the hurts she had suffered and work to help others.

What are some things in your life you are holding on to that are weighing on your heart?

Take some time to ponder why you are holding on to those experiences or emotions. What are you searching for that is keeping you from moving forward? Is it peace, acceptance, forgiveness?

 —From the book Guided by the Saints: A 30-Day Journal for Inspiration and Direction 
by Susan Hines-Brigger

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Minute Meditation – Endless Light

It was the light she remembered. Even now, in all this darkness that attends aging, it is the light she remembers. The light. It is without horizons and yet most of the time it seems just beyond the horizon, the invisible presence that though it is inside her, is just beyond the horizon she became when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. It is her hope, this light, especially in the deepest night. The memory of it now as then, just after the angel’s light, the words like the static of lightning disappearing and light remaining like a gentle rain falling, the room as quiet as before, the silence returning as light.

The closeness of the dark night. The memory of yesterday’s dawn making the dark light, the light dark, all because of that other Light out of the invisible, the place of the angel’s arrival and departure.

— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM

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Minute Meditation – The Sound of God’s Own Voice

It was not just the message that drew Mary to remember again and again the annunciation of Gabriel. It was his song and movement which were from the unseen heavens where God dwelt with God’s Son who, when he entered her womb, sang his own song and brought his own movement that she could feel as she carried Jesus daily as he grew into the baby born in Bethlehem, looking like all other babies, no glory surrounding him as God’s glory surrounded and shone from the Archangel Gabriel.

All the amplitude of Gabriel’s astounding voice and movement was now but a newborn human baby lying in a little crib of ordinary straw. Somewhere inside that little bundle of baby was the magnitude and amplitude of God’s own.

— from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM