I pray all of you had a most blessed Pentecost. With the end of the Easter Season, we have come to the end of our reflections on the Unity Prayer: “May our lips pray together to gain mercy from the Eternal Father.”
Like everything about the Unity Prayer, this petition is not about us; it is about us joining Jesus to pray for mercy for others. Remember that our thoughts are to be one for the salvation of souls and our hands are to gather souls in unity. Now, our lips are to pray together for mercy for the salvation of those souls and for the good of souls already saved.
For example, in a section of the Diary where Jesus is talking to Elizabeth about fasting for priests in Purgatory, Jesus says:
Jesus: “I will walk with you and stay with you all day. May our lips beg our heavenly Father, together, to obtain mercy.”
The Spiritual Diary (First Edition); Elizabeth Kindelmann; p. 84
Again, this mercy was not for Elizabeth but for the priests. Everything about The Flame of Love and the Unity Prayer is about being completely united to Jesus – chained to His sacred feet as Elizabeth would describe it or “not even one hair between us” as Jesus asked – united to Jesus in His work of pouring Himself out for the salvation of souls. This is what Christianity is supposed to be about. The Flame of Love calls us back to fully living our Christianity which is being completely united to Jesus to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8).
As we prepare to go forth in the Spirit of Pentecost in union with our Lord to spread the Flame of Love everywhere, let me leave you with one more thought about Jesus’ final petition in the Unity Prayer. Have you ever wondered why we plead to Jesus or plead to the Father to be merciful when they already are merciful?
Do we sometimes feel like we are trying to convince God to do something He doesn’t want to do? That, if we pray hard enough and fast hard enough and sacrifice hard enough, we will finally convince God to be begrudgingly merciful? If we pray this way, perhaps we have some room to grow in our relationship with God. Perhaps we have not fully come to rest in His love (I John 4:18) and to truly live the meaning of “Jesus, I trust in You.”
When God invites us to plead for His mercy, it is not for us to convince Him to be merciful but for us to learn to be merciful like Him – to share His merciful heart. He allows us to step into and express with our lips HIS desire to have mercy upon others. “May our lips pray together to gain mercy.”
If we’re not careful, we can establish a subtly oppositional relationship with God in our own minds – that He is resisting what we want and we have to convince Him. Instead, let’s have a relationship of profound love, trust, and unity, and realize that God has allowed us to step into His life, His heart, and His mind, when He invites us to plead for His mercy. In this way, we pray as one with our Lord and God. “May our lips pray together to gain mercy from the Eternal Father.” Peace.
Flame of Love Basics Series: The Unity Prayer