Ninth Day of Lent
O God,
Help us to take responsibility for our sins; help us to think and to act responsibly as we perceive and as we repent of our sins.
Don’t let us fixate on our sins; don’t let us fall prey to the paralysis of obsessive guilt. Don’t let us wallow in our guilt so that our “repentance” becomes all about us and leads to no positive developments.
Help us instead to learn from our sins; help us to move toward more positive and helpful ways of thinking, of feeling, and of living.
Help us instead to make restitution for our sins; give us the courage and the willingness to make right (or at least to make better) what we can.
Help us instead to mend relationships that are broken because of our sins; give us love and grace to seek forgiveness from and reconciliation with those whom we have injured through our sins.
Help us to take responsibility for our sins in ways that will contribute not only to our own healing but also to the healing of the people around us and of the world in which we live …
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment