©
photo Bill Alderman
Three
Prayers for Beginning & Getting Through
A Day
1. Lord Jesus
Christ, son of the living God,
have mercy on me.
— Traditional,
based on Peter’s Confession
(Matt. 16:16) and the prayer of
Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:48)
2. God, Grant
me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change, the courage to
change the things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.
— Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, Union
Theological Seminary, 1932
3. Dear God, I have
no idea where I am going. I do not see
the road ahead of me. I cannot know for
certain where it will end. Nor do I really
know myself. And the fact that I think
that I am following your will does not
mean I am actually doing so. But I believe
the desire to please you does in fact
please you. And I hope I have that desire
in all that I am doing. I hope that I
will never do anything apart from that
desire. And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road though
I know nothing about it. Therefore I
will trust you always though I may seem
to be lost in the shadow of death. I
will not fear for you are with me and
you will never leave me to face my troubles
alone.
— Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O,
from Thoughts in Solitude, 1956
—Collection
selected by the Reverend Bennett A. Brockman, Ph.D., |
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fairfield, Ct.
