A Prayer for Zeal

Implant within my heart, O God, the fiery zeal of a Jeremiah, the conviction of a Ruth or Rebecca and the zest of a Francis of Assisi. Stir my slumbering soul, that it might sing a song of passion and devotion, drunk with dancing joy and desire for you, my divine and loving Friend. May my heart be as hot as the heart of Moses for al your children burdened by slavery, for all who feel oppression's steely heel or suffer rejection in an alien land. May I, like your son Jesus, be consumed with zeal for you, Divine beloved, for life, for justice and for peace; for all that I know in faith. Fill me with zeal, O God. Amen (Fr. Edward Hayes)

Zeal is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah likened it to a fire in his belly, which he couldn't extinguish. It is the Spirit who stirs within us that overwhelming desire to do the will of God in the present moment in spite of external and internal obstacles. Ask God for a fresh anointing of the same gift of zeal that motivated the saints in their journey to him.