As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. – 2 Corinthians 6:3-6

1. Desire

I ask the Spirit for the gift of Resilience.

I take a thin bamboo rod, or pliant branch, slowly bend it, then watch and feel how it gives, then springs back. I repeat, reflecting on how it’s flexible, yielding strength, prevents it from breaking. I enter the presence of the Spirit of Resilience.

I ask the Spirit for the gift of Resilience, to endure suffering, bend with the storm winds, become strong in weakness, especially in the face of an unknown future.

2. Relish

Today I live in the Resilient Trinity.

Now I imagine I am surrounded in a circle by the Resilient Trinity. Each person addresses me by name, saying, ‘I am the God of all consolation, take my strength’.

Without knowing if I have the yielding strength to be resilient, given I have repeatedly suffered, I sit humbly for a while in the mystery of the Resilient Trinity and my desire.

I relish being resilient.

3. Reslient

I breathe in the Spirit of Gratitude.

Then I imagine and feel the Spirit breathing Resilience into me.

I breathe it in deep, then breathe it out into my bruised heart and all those needing this gift to survive. I repeat as desired – breathing, resilient, renewed.

I conclude giving thanks, moving into daily life, feeling a greater resilience in me.

Download the Exercises for Resilience.

Prayer time: 10 minutes