Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.... Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me...
John Henry Newman
Fragrance and Radiance
Topic: Serving Others
RADIATING CHRIST
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was a poet and theologian, first an Anglican priest and later a Catholic priest and cardinal, who was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. He was known nationally by the mid-1830s.
Originally an evangelical Oxford University academic and priest in the Church of England, Newman then became drawn to the high-church tradition of Anglicanism. He became known as a leader of, and an able polemicist for, the Oxford Movement, an influential and controversial grouping of Anglicans who wished to return to the Church of England many Catholic beliefs and liturgical rituals from before the English Reformation. In this the movement had some success. In 1845 Newman, joined by some but not all of his followers, officially left the Church of England and his teaching post at Oxford University and was received into the Catholic Church. He was quickly ordained as a priest and continued as an influential religious leader, based in Birmingham. In 1879, he was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his services to the cause of the Catholic Church in England. He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland which evolved into University College Dublin, today the largest university in Ireland.
Radiating Christ
Neely, Dr. Paul. “Fragrance Prayer’ (Cardinal Newman/Mother Teresa).” Global Christian Worship, The Robert E. Webber Institute of Christian Worship, 5 Sept. 2016, globalworship.tumblr.com/search/John+Henry+Newman.
John Henry Newman
Resources
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‘Radiating Christ/Fragrance Prayer’ (Cardinal Newman/Mother Teresa)
Mother Teresa took a well-loved prayer poem, ‘Radiating Christ,’ by Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), changed the singular to plural, and prayed it every day after Communion with her Sisters of Charity. [See Global Christian Worship blog link in Resources for the prayer poem and two musical settings of it.]
–Dr. Paul Neeley [Professor of the class “Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Christian Worship” at the Robert E. Webber Institute of Christian Worship].
Mother Teresa’s adaptation renamed the ‘Fragrance Prayer.’
FRAGRANCE PRAYER
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly,
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us,
that every person we should come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine;
so to shine as to be a light to others;
the light, Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best,
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching:
not by words, but by our example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you.
Amen.
–Cardinal John Henry Newman [‘Radiating Christ’, adapted by Mother Teresa as the ‘Fragrance Prayer’].