If you're a Catholic of a certain age, you may remember -- or still pray daily -- the short prayers known as aspirations. From a word that means both expressing hope and drawing breath, an aspiration consists of just a few words uttered aloud or silently.
In earlier times, they may have been called ejaculations (in the sense of a quick exclamation) or arrow prayers (because they're flung toward heaven and get to the point). Whatever we call them, their use has become less common among younger Catholics.
That's something Cardinal Timothy Dolan, recently retired archbishop of New York, would like to change.
In brief social media posts over the last few days, Cardinal Dolan has reintroduced or introduced some of the most popular aspirations, calling them "a Catholic custom worth recovering."
Aspirations are wonderful prayers for peace or situations of urgency, and often prayed in times of distress or sorrow. There's a lot of that going around these days, as the cardinal notes. It's good to know we have a way of bringing the world's troubles and our own to the ears of heaven. Praying aspirations regularly enough, older Catholics can tell you, ingrains them in the heart. They become spontaneous utterances.
Here are five of the aspirations Cardinal Dolan has featured recently.
"All for Thee, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus."
Cardinal Dolan introduced his series on aspirations with this one because, as he says, there's scarcely a situation in which it doesn't apply. Whether starting the workday, dealing with pain, or facing something difficult, this brief dedication of our lives to the Sacred Heart places our needs in his merciful love.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!"
This (often exasperated) calling on the Holy Family can sometimes sound less than pious. Of all the traditional aspirations, it's most difficult to hear its roots in supplication. (For that reason, many older Catholics would tag on the phrase "be praised and glorified," so nobody got the wrong idea.) Family interactions, understandably, frequently call for this kind of prayer, asking the members of that family of Nazareth to grant us some measure of their grace.
"God, help us!"
This aspiration is prayer at its most basic and most desperate. When we can't think of a solution, a way forward, or even a reaction to what is going on around us, we can turn it all over to God with these three words. And as Cardinal Dolan notes, the prayer can be an intercession for the needs of others as well as for our own: "God, help her!" "God, help them!" When it ceases to be an aspiration, this same prayer can be a statement of surrender, as in "If we can't find a way to end this violence, God help us!" That, too, is a prayer.
"Jesus, I trust in Thee."
On Divine Mercy Sunday, Cardinal Dolan featured this prayer of St. Faustina. Devotion to the Divine Mercy, fostered by St. Faustina, has become popular worldwide in this century, so this aspiration might be one of the best known among younger Catholics. In his homily for the canonization of St. Faustina and the establishment of Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope St. John Paul II said:
How many souls have been consoled by the prayer “Jesus, I trust in you,” which Providence intimated through Sr. Faustina! This simple act of abandonment to Jesus dispels the thickest clouds and lets a ray of light penetrate every life.
"My Jesus, mercy."
Many older Catholics silently prayed this aspiration (and still do) at the elevation of the Most Precious Blood during the Mass, praying another -- from the Apostle Thomas' "My Lord and my God!" -- at the elevation of the Host. In his reflection on this aspiration, the cardinal shares the story of a pastor who used these three words to beg Christ's mercy on the individual people of his parish as he drove by their homes:
Which aspirations are your favorites? Did you learn a new one from Cardinal Dolan's reflections? Do you agree that aspirations are a Catholic custom worth recovering? Let us know in the comments!
