Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 11/9

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Virtually everyone is familiar with the Serenity Prayer. Here's another take on that prayer, from James Martin, SJ.  And it's followed, below, by a musical setting of the traditional text (from the Serenity Prayer Project).

A New Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the people I cannot change,
which is pretty much everyone,
since I'm clearly not you, God.
At least not the last time I checked.

And while you're at it, God,
please give me the courage
to change what I need to change about myself,
which is frankly a lot, since, once again,
I'm not you, which means I'm not perfect.
It's better for me to focus on changing myself
than to worry about changing other people,
who, as you'll no doubt remember me saying,
I can't change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up
whenever I think:
that I'm clearly smarter than everyone else in the room;
that no one knows what they're talking about except me;
or that I alone have all the answers.

Basically, God,
grant me the wisdom
to remember
that I'm not you.

Amen.

- James Martin, SJ




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