Prayers Before and After Work

 

Prayers Before and After Work

Prayer before Work

Our Lord directed St. Gertrude to tell a certain person to form the following inten tion before beginning any work: O LORD Jesus; in union with Thy most perfect actions I commend to Thee this my work; to be directed according to Thine adorable will; for the salvation of all mankind. Amen. 

Prayer After Work

O LORD Jesus; in union with Thy most perfect actions I offer Thee this my work; to be amended and cleansed; and presented as is fit to God the Father; to His eternal praise. Amen.

An Efficacious Method of Offering Our Actions

O Lord, I offer Thee this work through Thine Only Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the praise of Thine eternal Majesty; it was revealed to her that whatever action was thus offered would acquire a worth and acceptableness to God beyond all human comprehension. For as all things appear to be green when seen through a green glass, so whatever is offered to God through His Only-begotten Son cannot be otherwise than most precious and pleasing in His sight. 

That you may understand how useful it is to offer all your works to God, listen to what our Lord said on one occasion to St. Gertrude: All thy works are most perfectly pleasing to Me. And as she could not believe this, He added: If you held in your hand some object which you had the means and the skill to render perfectly pleasing to everyone, and if you tenderly loved that object, would you neglect to adorn it? Even thus, because you are accustomed to offer all your works to Me, I hold them in My hand; and as I have both the power and the skill, My love rejoiceth to cleanse and perfect them all, that they may be most perfectly pleasing in My sight.

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