“I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12
“Holy Father, creator and sustaining wisdom of all that is, both heaven and on earth, take me from those thoughts, actions and objects that are hurtful. Give me instead those things that are profitable for me and all who seek rightly to praise you. I ask this grace in the company of all believers and through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is, with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.”
Phyllis Tickle in Prayers for Summertime: A Manual for Prayer (New York: Doubleday, 2000) 9.
As I shift from Brother Lawrence but remain focused on praying psalms on the divine hours, my attention turns to various works related to this area. Phyllis Tickle has done much writing on this topic.
In her book prayers for Summertime, she often repeats this prayer in the middle of the day. Why? I reckon, as we are out and about we can be drawn to things that are hurtful and we need things that are profitable.
Let us pray for our Holy and Generous Father to take away things that may be hurtful and give us what is profitable. I believe we often settle for what is good instead of what is most beneficial for us.
As our generosity reflects our source material, for it to bring infinite joy, we must be tapped into that which is best. As I am in Florida, this reminds me of the famous quote by C.S. Lewis from The Weight of Glory.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
If you want to grow in generosity, be pleased only by that which is best. Pause at the divine hours and ask God to take away that which is hurtful, give you that which is profitable, and have wisdom to know the difference.