Resources for prayer to know the deep love of God

The other day, I came across this prayer by Saint John Henry Newman, which I remembered reading from attending the Newman Center during college. I want to share it with you.

It says: "God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him; whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about."

While I've been reflecting on the gift the Newman Center was to me, I recently learned Father Bill Kottenstette's homilies from when I was at Truman are online. This man's experience of the love and grace of God, which he knew through his struggle with alcoholism that caused him to be homeless and asked to leave the priesthood for a time during his younger years, set me free and transformed my life when I was 18 through 22 years old; it has continued to do so even as he is no longer physically present with us here on earth. His wisdom, too, continues to transform, I hope, as we who knew him share it with others, passing on the love that was given to us through him by Christ.

If you also would like to experience this deep love of God, search "Truman Newman" (with a space between the two words) on YouTube; by clicking on the "videos" tab at the top of the Truman Newman YouTube account page, you will be able to access 70 of Father Bill's homilies. They are a trove of wisdom for anyone of any denomination or faith or faithless background; they talk about the mystery of what it means to be human and the depth of the Mystery of our God, of love. I hope you take time to seek them out, listen and be blessed.

In the meantime, may you be comforted and spurred on in this life journey through this daily prayer of Saint John Henry Newman, which we prayed often together as a community of students at the Newman Center: "May God support us all the day long, till the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in His mercy, may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest and peace at the last. Amen."