3/12/26

NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 3/12


 
Sometimes - actually often,  Lord -
it boggles my mind, it amazes my soul:
    that you want to know me,
    that you can be known,
    that you desire to share in my life,
    that you want to be one with me...
 
I'd be nothing, Lord,
    no more  than the small, mortal being I am,
were it not for your curious, eternal interest 
    in my singular existence
and your holy abiding presence in my heart
and your Spirit always moving deep within me
and your loving, caring gaze 
    upon everything I do
and your gentle, guiding hand,
    laid oft upn my shoulder
and your passionate desire
    that you and I be one...
 
I'm humbled 
    when I ponder that you know me,
        that you call me by my name...
 
My imagination faints before your  ancient beauty, 
    uncovered and disclosed. revealed for me to see...
 
It blows my mind that I can know
    the One who is all-knowing...  
 
And my heart's too small to take in all
    the peace your pardon offers...

So I shiver in my flesh, Lord,
    before your wounded body:
hung upon the Cross, in love
    and given up for me...

I've done nothing, Lord, to merit
    all this love I don't deserve:
it's all pure grace - your gift divine -
   the mystery of your mercy...
  
Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
    and watch over me while I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
    and asleep rest in your peace...

Amen. 

I Have Loved You by Michael Joncas 
 
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I have loved you with an everlasting love, 
I have called you and you are mine;
I have loved you with an everlasting love, 
I have called you and you are mine.

Seek the face of the Lord and long for him: 
He will bring you his light and his peace.

Seek the face of the Lord and long for him: 
He will bring you his joy and his hope.

  

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Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 3/12

This morning, 
    let's pause, ponder and pray over these words... 
 
Those who say I love God 
    and hate their brothers or sisters - are liars.
For if you do not love your brother or sister 
    whom you have seen, 
you cannot love God 
    whom you have not seen.
 
 
Every bombed village is my hometown.
 
And every dead child is my child.
Every grieving mother is my mother.
Every crying father is my father.
Every home turned to rubble
   is the home I grew up in.
Every brother 
    carrying his brother's remains across borders         
      is my brother.
Every sister waiting for a sister
   who will never come home
      is my sister.
Every one of these people is ours,
   just as we are theirs.
We belong to them
   and they belong to us.
 
    

  

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3/11/26

NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 3/11


 

Unfortunately, it's time for this prayer again... 
More unfortunately, 
    it seems it's always time for this prayer again...

When confusion and conflict are all around,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When pride and prejudice hijack justice,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When division and discord tear us apart,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When the crude and the crass mock and offend,
    Lord, show us your kindness...

When partisan politics blind us to wisdom,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When we're lost, alone and afraid,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When defeat and despair drain us of hope,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When swagger and smugness stand in for grace,
    Lord, show us your kindness...

When our faith flags and we need your Spirit
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When we struggle to see through the dark and the dim,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When our souls are chilled by fear and foreboding,
    Lord, show us your kindness...
 
When our sins are many and we're slow to repent,
    Lord, show us your kindness...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake 
    and watch over us while we sleep, 
that awake, we might keep watch with you
    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

 Psalm 85 by Scott Soper

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Lord, let us see your kindness,
Lord, let us see your kindness.
Your kindness and salvation grant us, O Lord.

I will hear what the Lord proclaims:
peace and salvation close at hand,
always near to those who fear him;
glory dwelling in our land.

Kindness and truth shall meet at last;
justice and peace embrace in love.
Truth shall spring up from the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven above.

God will grant abundant grace;
earth will spring up with boundless life.
Blessings flow ever before him
to prepare his way.

 

  

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Pause or Prayer: WEDNESDAY 3/11


 

  

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3/10/26

NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 3/10

There are words we say every time we celebrate Mass and those oft repeated prayers can easily become rote. But there's one prayer we offer at every Mass (right after the Lord's Prayer) that never fails to stop me in my tracks: its words are so real - and always urgent... t's a prayer I just can't get enough of!
 
                Deliver us, Lord, from every evil 
                    and grant us peace in our own day;
                
in your mercy, keep us free from sin
                    and safe from all distress...
 
Every time we gather at your table, Lord,
    we pray for and we ask for a lot:
        • deliverance from every evil
         peace - right now
         freedom from sin
          and a place safe from all distress...

As this day ends, Lord, I'm thinking
    we might, we should pray these words 
        every night...
 
 Those four petitions sum up so well
     so much of what we need from you,
     so much of what we long for:
         the deliverance and peace
            the freedom and safety
         that only you can offer, 
            that only you can give...

Tonight, Lord, I pray you keep us free from evil:
    the evil of war, poverty and racism; 
    the evil of consumerism, greed and selfishness;
    the evil that masquerades as virtue; 
    the evil of everyday assaults 
        on the dignity of human life...
 
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil...
 
And tonight I pray 
  for peace in our own day, Lor,
    the peace that only you can give:
        peace in our world and in our nation,
             in our communities and in our streets;
        peace in our families and in our homes;
        peace in our minds and hearts and souls;
        peace with you, Lord
            - and peace with ourselves...
 
Graciously grant us peace, Lord,
    in our own days - even now...  

And tonight I pray 
  that you keep us free from sin, Lord: 
    free from temptation and its wily ways;     
    free from sin that becomes a habit; 
    free from sins of omission and silence; 
    free from the sins we deny and hide;
    free from the sin of all that keeps us
        from loving you and our neighbor...

Keep us free from sin, Lord...
 
And tonight, Lord, I pray 
  that you keep us safe from all distress: 
    the distress of worry, doubt and fear;
    the distress of disease, illness and pain;
    the distress of tyranny, terrorism and war;
    the distress of anxiety, depression and grief;
    the distress of hunger, homelessness and want; 
    the distress of discouragement, loneliness and despair...
 
Keep us safe from all distress, Lord...
 
I know, Lord - I'm praying for, I'm asking a lot!
But this is what we need 
    and you are all we have;
you're the source of every blessing,
    you're our best and only hope!

With humble hearts we pray, Lord,
  for the grace that's yours to give:
        the grace to help us turn from evil;
            whenever, wherever, however we meet it;
        the grace to work for  justice,
            the justices whose harvest is peace;
        the grace to turn from away sin 
            and follow the path
                of your wisdom, your word and your truth...
 
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
    and grant us peace in our own day;
in your mercy, keep us free from sin
    and safe from all distress...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake
    and watch over us as we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Good Lord, Deliver Us by Paul Zach
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Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us
Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us


From the merchants in the temple
And the worship of our greed
From the whisper of the tempter
"We shall take more than we need"

From the chains of wealth and plunder
From our avarice and pride
From the ever-growing hunger
From our vanity and strife

Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us
Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us

From our constant quest for power
Over all that we survey
From the lies that we devour
From the fears we cannot face

Come and save us from our demons
Come and strip away our hate
Come on, Lord, restore our reason
Come on, Christ, the time is late

Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us
Good Lord, good Lord
Good Lord, deliver us

  

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3/9/26

Puase for Prayer: TUESDAY 3/10

 
This Lent, Lord, I've found myself 
    sometimes feeling far away from you
and at other times 
    as close (or closer) than ever I've been...

Though sometimes you seem distant
I know there's not a moment,
day and night,
when you're not by my side:
    before me, behind me,
    above me, below me,
    around, within and beside me...

It's your grace,
it's always your move, Lord, that
    beckons me,
    calls me out of hiding,
    sets me on the right path
    and draws me ever homeward
    to the gentle, warm embrace
    of your strong and loving arms...

You never leave me, Lord 
    - you never have, you never will -
but I have found so many ways
    to turn from you and and hide 
    from your word and from your truth, 
    from your wisdom and your counsel, 
    from your presence by my side...
 
For the times I've run away
    - and all the times I've tried to - 
          I ask your pardon, Lord,
and for the times you've brought me back
    in your mercy and your kindness, 
        I give you thanks and praise...
 
Draw me closer, ever closer,
    when I start to lose my way
and let me never, ever, Lord,
    let go your guiding hand...

Amen.


  

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