St Ignatius and My Future
• On the last page of St Ignatius’ famous
Spiritual Exercises, he gives us a prayer to
learn.
• This prayer is called the ‘Take and Receive’ (or
‘Suscipe’ – Latin for ‘take’)
• Learning and loving this prayer will help us in
future, keeping the ideas of St Ignatius in our
hearts and minds…
Oops!
• The lines of the prayer have been jumbled up.
Can you work with a partner to rearrange
them into the correct order and create the
finished prayer?
• The prayer begins with: ‘Take Lord and
receive…
The ‘Take and Receive’ Prayer
Take Lord, and receive,
all my freedom,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
You have given it all to me.
To you, O Lord, I return it.
All is Yours,
use it entirely according to Your will.
Your grace and Your love is enough for me.
Give me these, Lord, and I ask for nothing more.
The ‘Take and Receive’ Prayer:
What does it mean?
Before we begin, re-read your Examen of the
Year Homework. Look at all your wonderful
experiences this year. Look at all God has done
for you…
We are asked to hand
over not only our
possessions, but also our
gifts, skills and personal
experiences – our entire
lives – back to God.
Take Lord, and receive,
all my freedom,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
St Ignatius wants us to
remember that it is God, out of
You have given it all to me.
St Ignatius wants us to recognise
the many ways God loves us. The
evidence is our lives.
His love for us, who has created
us and everything in our lives. He
wants us to be grateful to God.
The ‘Take and Receive’ Prayer:
What does it mean?
St Ignatius challenges us to give up our own selfish ‘will’ for
our lives and instead, allow our will to be God’s will.
To you, O Lord, I return it.
All is Yours,
use it entirely according to Your will.
Your grace and Your love is enough for me.
Give me these, Lord, and I ask for nothing more.
St Ignatius challenges us
to give control of our life
back to God.
This prayer is a reminder
to trust in God, rather
than ourselves.
We do this by
• praying,
• listening to God
(being attentive)
• letting Him guide
our lives.
Challenge: Can you think
of another prayer which
challenges us to follow
God’s will in our life?
The ‘Take and Receive’ Prayer:
What does it mean?
Have you noticed some of the repeated words
Take Lord, and receive,
which give us a clue as to the hidden meaning
of the prayer?
all my freedom,
my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
Give will my you
You have given it all to me.
To you, O Lord, I return it.
All is Yours,
will
use it entirely according to Your will. Give you my
Your grace and Your love is enough for me.
Give me these, Lord, and I ask for nothing more.
Are there any other sentences you can make
using the repeated words?
St Ignatius and My Future
• Now we know that St Ignatius wants us to
glorify God with our lives, to give our will to
God, let us plan how we can do this in the
future.
[Use your Examen of the Year you completed
for homework as a guide to where and how
God is calling you to glorify Him in future.]
St Ignatius and My Future
• To help you with ideas, here are a few
suggestions from Jesuit Missions:
Pray – deepen your
relationship with
God and be attentive
to His call.
Click here for Jesuit Missions’ Prayer Page
St Ignatius and My Future
Fundraise – raise money for Jesuit Missions to
help those in need around the world. Organise
fundraisers at school or ask your parents and
teacher to run the London Marathon for JM.
Click here for Jesuit Missions’ Marathon Page
St Ignatius and My Future
Companions Programme – help your
school strengthen it’s links with its
Companion School in the developing
world. Ask your teachers to help you run
letter-writing and other culture sharing
activities.
St Ignatius and My Future
Volunteering – when you are eighteen, why not take part in a Jesuit
Missions volunteer placement? You could travel to parts of the
developing world and help Jesuits with their missions there. If you
have older brothers and sisters you could recommend this to them
today!
St Ignatius and My Future
Home Learning Challenge
1. Stick your plan for the future somewhere
obvious so you won’t forget them.
2. Create a personalised ‘Take and Receive
Prayer’ in poster or bookmark form.
© Copyright Jesuit Missions 2016
Text by Christopher Brolly and Samantha Aidoo.
All images were taken from Jesuit Missions and the Jesuit
Institute London.
Users are welcome to modify the material to fit their needs.
jesuitmissions.org.uk
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Twitter: @JesuitMissions