Stay with me, then I shall begin to shine as You shine;
to shine so as to be a light to others.
Cardinal Newman
Photo by Sunset Girl, unsplash.com
Below are Cardinal Newman’s aspirations, crafted as a prayer and offered by Nancy Adams. They may not exactly match your own, but do they shine light on, or clarify, them?
We often have an orientation, one that steers us and determines our direction and values, oftentimes unconsciously. Do any of these lines help to identify your current orientation or voice those aspirations?
To shine as You do
Dear Lord, help me speak your fragrance wherever I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of Yours
Shine through me and be in me so that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only You, O Lord!
Stay with me, then I shall begin to shine as You shine; to shine so as to be a light to others.
The light O Lord will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be You, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You in the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You!'