33 PETITIONS TO JESUS

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Would you like to grow closer to our Lord? Is your love and devotion to Him more lukewarm, or even colder than you’d like these days, considering all of whatever trials and tribulations you might be dealing with in these troubled times?

This prayer below, entitled “33 petitions to Jesus”, can help you reflect on all of the aspects of Jesus’ love for us and His great desire to lead us on the road to our salvation!

Although it is not a litany, this prayer does sound like one. And another great feature about it is that in many ways it reads like a treasury of short prayers. You can take and memorize any of the lines here to appeal to our Lord for His grace and assistance in a hectic or trying day!

This prayer also has some great scriptural references, making it good for meditations on Jesus’ earthly ministry, as well as on His Gospel message, to help you grow in Holiness on your heavenward journey.

Thirty-three petitions to Jesus.

O good Jesus:
Word of the Eternal Father convert me
Son of Mary, take me as her child.
Prince of Peace, give me peace.
My Refuge, receive me.
My Shepherd, feed my soul.
Model of patience, comfort me.
Meek and humble of Heart, help me to become like You.
My Redeemer, save me.
My God and my All possess me.
The true Way, direct me.
Eternal Truth, instruct me.
Life of the Saints: Make me live in You.
My Support, strengthen me.
My Justice, justify Me.
My Mediator with your Father, reconcile me.
Physician of my soul, heal me.
My Judge, pardon me.
My King, rule me.
My Sanctification, sanctify me.
Abyss of goodness, pardon me.
Living Bread from heaven, nourish me.
Father of the prodigal, receive me.
Joy of my soul, be my only happiness.
My Helper, assist me.
Magnet of love, draw me.
My Protector, defend me.
My Hope, sustain me.
Object of my love, unite me to Yourself.
Fountain of life, refresh me.
My Divine Victim, atone for me.
My Last End, let me possess You.
My Glory, glorify me. Amen.

As mentioned above, this prayer overall, with its various petitions, evokes some great scriptural references: These include:

• Jesus as the Word of God (John 1:1),
• Jesus as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11);
• Jesus as being meek and humble of heart (Matt 11:29);
• Jesus as the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
• Jesus as the redeemer (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23);
• Jesus as the Physician (Luke 5:31).
• And Jesus as the Divine Victim (John 1:29; Rom 5:8)

And, of course, who could forget in this prayer Jesus’ famous line in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, verse 51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” in which for the first time Jesus introduced his skeptical listeners to what would come to be known as His Real Presence in the Eucharist.

The line “My Mediator with Your Father” brings to mind St. Paul’s reference to there being “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). (It is important to note here that this doesn’t mean we can’t pray to God on behalf of each other, of course!)

While the line “My Glory, glorify me” might seem presumptuous, think of it as a way of helping you imitate Christ in these words to His Heavenly Father in the Last Supper discourse in John’s Gospel Chapter 17 ”Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (Verse 1). Also, “The glory which you have given me I have given to them [the apostles gathered with Jesus that night and by extension all of us believers in Fallen Humanity as well ], that they may be one even as we are one.” (Verse 22).

Don’t we all want to bask in the reflected glory of someone we admire who has done something noteworthy? If we can do that for sports teams, or various luminaries, in this crazy world, why can’t we do that for Jesus?

The reference to Jesus as ‘My God and My All” brings to mind just how much our Lord wants to be the “Alpha and Omega” (Rev 1:8 and 21:13) in our lives, that is to say the all encompassing channel of His goodness.

In this regard it is worth noting the words of the great British author C.S. Lewis from his well-known book Mere Christianity about what this can mean for us. He wrote that “When Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral...They mean that Christ is actually operating through them; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts-that we are His fingers and muscles, the cells of His body.”

Is it any wonder in this regard that the Catholic Church is understood to be as a living supernatural body whose Head is Christ, whose members are the faithful (that's us), and whose life comes from the Holy Spirit.

Through this union, Christians participate in Christ's life, mission, suffering and glory with each of us having our own part to play, much like the different parts of each of our human bodies, as we give our Lord “our all”.

For those times that you’re not sure what your part is, ask Jesus in prayers like this one for His help through His Spirit in discerning it. If nothing else, think of St. Therese’s famous ‘Little Way” for inspiration which she described as doing ordinary things out of humility, love, and trust in God and His Mercy!

In the reference in this prayer to Jesus as “Father of the Prodigal” we can recall the joy the father of the prodigal son felt when his repentant son returned home after squandering his inheritance in debauched living (Luke 11:15-32).

In this regard, Jesus also makes reference in Luke’s Gospel (15:7) to the joy felt in heaven over one repentant sinner rather than 99 righteous who need no repentance. We can well imagine Jesus’ joy in relating these two stories as well!

The reference to Jesus “My Judge, pardon me” also can help us see God’s great desire to show His mercy to forgive our sins in confession if we approach Him with a loving and contrite heart.

In the line “My King, rule me," we can also reflect in this prayer on Jesus wishing to be front and center in our lives and the King and Center of our hearts as we say in the Litany of His Sacred Heart.

Our Lord Himself referred to His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God both in our midsts in His teachings and in His ministry (as in Luke 17:21) and yet, while very real, also not of this world (as in His answer to Pontius Pilate when the Roman procurator asked Him if He was the King of the Jews in John 18:36).

Speaking of which, Pope Pius XI wrote an encyclical Quas Primas ("In the First") in 1925 that established the Feast of Christ the King. The Pontiff contended that many of the world's problems stem from rejecting Christ's authority in both personal and public life.

He wrote this at a time when Christianity was under siege in Mexico and the brutal dictators Lenin, and then his successor Stalin were pursuing a militantly atheistic society in Russia. And it wasn’t too long afterwards that Adolf Hitler seized power in Germany in 1933 and started the Second World War in 1939.

Thus, Pius argued, somewhat prophetically, in 1925, that lasting peace would not come merely from treaties or politics, but only from recognizing the kingship of Christ, (who we also see referenced in this prayer as the "Prince of Peace" to give us peace)!

As Pius wrote in his encyclical, in what one might see as a wishful lament, “Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ! ‘Then at length,’ to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago [that is to say, in 1899] to the bishops of the Universal Church ‘Then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.’"

To which we can only say “Amen”! In these tumultuous troubled times, we must all try to follow Christ as much as possible and when in distress say to Him, as in this line from these petitions “My Refuge, receive me”!

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