Category: prayer

Looking to St. Francis as an Example: Join Our Prayer

As we seek God’s will in growing the Warrior Penitents, I was looking to the life of St. Francis of Assisi with a particular focus on the joining of the first brothers. What happened when Brother Bernard and Brother Peter joined St. Francis and they sought direction for how to live?

Brother Bernard and Brother Peter approached St Francis and told him, “We wish to live with you from now on and do what you are doing. Tell us, therefore, what we should do with our possessions.”

St. Francis immediately was filled with joy and answered “Let us go and seek council from the Lord!” (Something that I seek to do now with the Warrior Penitents).

At this time, Bibles were hard to come by. But one place they could always be found was in the Church. St. Francis, with the two brothers, entered one of the city’s churches and immediately fell on their knees and humbly prayed:

“Lord, God, Father of glory, we beg You in Your mercy, show us what we are to do.”

The record tells us that they opened the book of the Gospels three times and read what they should do for their initial Rule of Life. This showed absolute faith in the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of their journey. The three vereses they opened the Gospels to are reported to be: Mark 10:21; Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:3.

Please join me in praying this same prayer as we continue to pursue the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the Community of Warrior Penitents.

The Transition

I will continue to pray for the Lord’s guidance, but this is where we stand.

I believe in the mission and calling of the Community of Warrior Penitents. I have seen the need for men and women of strong faith within the ranks of the U.S. Military to come together to support one another in prayer and fellowship. But I still struggle to see God’s movement. So… we pray.

I believe that my lack of faith in being able to be used by God to reach this population has caused an incredible detriment to the opportunity to change lives for Christ. This site has gone dorment three times, each time we lose the community and must start over. The blame for the dormancy belongs to none other than myself. My fear of being used by God, my fear of being unworthy, and terrible sinner, has caused the turmoil.

Let’s turn the tide and offer our prayers and service to the Lord. To St. Philip Neri and to the Lord that we are guided in the direction we can best be used to change lives and the world for peace and unity through service and prayer.

This will stay a simple blog, nothing fancy, but the prayers will continue.

God bless you all, please pray for the direction of the Warrior Penitents.

In Christ and Prayer,

WP