A prayer for Ash Wednesday
On this day, we enter into a season that focuses attention on our human weakness, and the destructive consequences of personal and systemic sin. Taken seriously, Lent is a challenging time. It requires honesty, humility, and a firm resolve to break unhealthy patterns in order to continue growing into the image of Christ Jesus. The following prayer is taken from the community prayer book of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. In praying these words throughout the season of Lent, you join with them in embracing the constant process of personal conversion.
God, merciful judge,
because of our own imperfection and sin,
we want to be sensitive to everything
that hinders your love
in the world and in the Church.
We know that our efforts need constant purification;
we also know that Jesus, crucified and risen, has redeemed us.
So, we welcome the Spirit moving among us,
and join with Christ’s work of redemption,
bearing suffering, if necessary, with patience and abandonment.
By sharing in Christ’s reconciliation,
we believe that our love heals humanity,
gathers it together into the body of Christ,
and consecrates it to your glory.
Amen.
