Weekly Practice 7/13/26
Make every effort to do or reflect upon this week’s practice with others.
Scripture
James 1:1-8 NTFE
James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, to the twelve dispersed tribes: greeting.
My dear family, when you find yourselves tumbling into various trials and tribulations, learn to look at it with total joy, because you know that, when your faith is put to the test, what comes out is patience. What’s more, you must let patience have its complete effect, so that you may be complete and whole, not falling short in anything.
If any one of you falls short in wisdom, they should ask God for it, and it will be given them. God, after all, gives generously and ungrudgingly to all people. But they should ask in faith, with no doubts. A person who doubts is like a wave of the sea which the wind blows and tosses about. Someone like that should not suppose they will receive anything from the Lord, since they are double-minded and unstable in everything they do.
Practice
Suscipe
While trials and tribulations have a way of making us feel anything but patience, James suggests that patience is key to becoming “complete and whole” people. Some 1,500 years later, Ignatius of Loyola crafted the “Suscipe.” Suscipe means “receive.” It is a prayer of surrender to God’s will and an offering of our entire lives back to him.
This week, incorporate the “Suscipe” into your daily time with God. In truth, this is a pretty bold prayer. Sometimes, you may not fully feel it. Don’t worry. This is not the same kind of doubt James is talking about, which is a kind of lukewarm, half-hearted approach to God. When you pray with sincerity, even a desire to desire to give your all to God pleases him. Trust that he can lovingly work with any amount of surrender you are currently able to offer to him:
Suscipe - Ignatius of Loyola
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.
