As always, find a quiet time and place to pray... take a few deep breaths... be still... and know that God is near...A word to reflect on:
The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.
Lots of good news here, Lord!
You're not simply compassionate and loving:
you are compassion and
you are love...
You're not only rich in mercy:
you're slow to be angry with me, and you hold back
from treating me as my faults deserve...
I often regard my own faults and failings
as being "really very small,"
especially when I compare them to my neighbor's sins.
But you don't measure my soul against my neighbor's:
you measure me against your word, teaching me
to do what is right,
to love what is good
and to walk humbly by your side...
And if my faults and sins really are so very small,
how is it, Lord, I don't more easily and quickly
correct and overcome them?
Your lenient love and your many mercies
are no license for me to fail but rather
your way of showing me there's no limit
to your desire that nothing come between us,
nothing keep me from your love,
nothing keep me from loving my neighbor as myself
and as mercifully as you love me...
As you are love and compassion for me, Lord,
so you call me to be loving and compassionate towards others,
whoever they may be and wherever they may be, near or far...
As you are slow to be angry over my mistakes
so you call me to be patient with others:
to understand how we are, all of us, works in progress...
My neighbor's failures appear, in your eyes, Lord,
to be remarkably like my own and you see that
today's failure, mine and my neighbor's,
is but one more, often faltering, step
along the path of grace...
You do not treat me, Lord, as my sins, great and small, deserve...
When you call me to heroic love and I answer as a selfish coward,
then your mercy, greater than my failures,
lifts me up, heals and strengthens me, again and again,
to do what is right, love what is good,
to walk humbly by your side...
The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.
In this quiet time, Lord, help me see my sins
and own your mercy, so freely given:
show me your love and compassion
and set me again on the path of grace
to live in peace with you, with my neighbor
and with myself...
In the stillness help me know that you are near,
to trust that you are here,
that you, my Lord, are compassion and love,
that in your presence I am healed, forgiven
and strengthened by the peace that is yours alone to give...
To ponder and pray over...
In what ways do I need the Lord's compassion and love?
Who in my life needs my love and compassion?
What will I ask of the Lord today?
From this prayer time, what word or phrase will I keep with me
to carry through the rest of my day?
From this prayer time, what word or phrase will I keep with me
to carry through the rest of my day?
(After you spend some time with these questions,
pray the reflection above one more time...)
Here are some tips for praying 10 minutes a day. If you find these daily prayer reminders helpful, please let me know - and share them with others. You'll find an archive of these daily posts here.
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