Praying for the Graces we need

My name is Penelope Olive, and I truly am a Spiritual Director In Formation.


When I began the process of formal training as a Spiritual Director, I had the thought that I would need particular Graces to do this work.  My next thought was: I need help to do this work - who better to look to than Saint Ignatius himself; I will ask God to bless me as He did Saint Ignatius, with the graces that I need to do this work.   And that has been my prayer ever since.


I did the research and found a beautiful chaplet of prayer which I have been using for a couple of years now.  Being a frugal person, I decided to make my own chaplet using a cross which my sister Deb had given me, a medal of Saint Ignatius, a string of brown cord, and some beads I had that had broken off from a necklace received long ago from a friend who had visited Egypt; my completed chaplet is pictured above.


After a year or so of praying the chaplet, I found that the prayer had now become a part of my life, and I asked our parish priest to bless my prayer beads, which he happily did.


The prayers are by Saint Ignatius himself.


My prayer intention is simple: that the Lord will bless me with the graces that I need to do this work.  And He does.


For anyone interested in this devotion, here below are the prayers.  For those of us who are not familiar with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be, I have included the text for these prayers at the end of the instructions.


God bless you, and may you be blessed indeed with all the grace that you need to do the work God has set before you, as:
Husband, Wife, Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Grandmother, Grandfather, Grand-daughter, Grandson, Student, Teacher, Worker, Caregiver, Volunteer, Intercessor...in whatever vocation that the Lord has placed you, and gifted you.
In Jesus' Holy Name.  Amen.


On the medal, begin with:
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.  All that I am and all that I possess You have given me:  I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will.  Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
Grant, O Lord, that my heart may neither desire nor seek anything but what is necessary for the fulfillment of Thy holy will.  May health or sickness, riches or poverty, honors or contempt, humiliations, leave my soul in that state of perfect detachment to which I desire to attain for Thy greater honor and Thy greater glory.


On each group of three beads, pray:
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be


Conclude on the cross/crucifix with:
O my God, teach me to be generous:
to serve you as you deserve to be served;
to give without counting the cost;
to fight without fear of being wounded;
to work without seeking rest;
and to spend myself without expecting any reward,
but the knowledge that I am doing your holy will


Saint Ignatius of Loyola


Prayers:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.


Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.


Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.