Sometimes at Morning Mass I use a few lines of a prayer. I remember it from somewhere, maybe, I think, an old Redemptorist Parish Mission Prayer Book.
Like a lot of the bits I like and recall, I don’t think I’ve remembered it word perfect. That said, maybe I’ve enough of it to use.
It is set at the beginning of the day and entrusts the day ahead to the Lord’s care and guiding hand.
The lines I like come close to, if not at, the end. They go something like this:
And when night comes, may I look back on this day,
with no bitterness or regret in my heart
because of anything I’ve said or done,
left unsaid or failed to do …..
Alas, I’ve had days that have ended with regret, whatever about bitterness but with the God of Mercy, and the passing of night, there’s a new day ahead.
God of my life, I welcome this new day. it is your gift to me, a new creation, a promise ofresurrection. I thank you for the grace of being alive this morning. I thank you for the sleep that has refreshed me. I thank you for this chance to make a new beginning. This day Lord is full of promise and opportunity; let me waste none of it. This day is full of mystery and the unknown; help me to face it without fear or anxiety. This day is blessed with beauty and adventure: make me fully alive to it all. During this day keep me thoughtful, prayerful and kind. May I be courteous and helpful to others, and not turned in on myself. Keep me from any word that would hurt, or belittle, or destroy; and may the thoughts of my mind be pleasing in your sight. When night comes again, may I look back on this day with no grievance or bitterness in my heart; and may nobody be unhappy because of anything I have done or anything I have failed to do. Lord, bless this day for me and for everyone. Make it a day in which we grow to have the mind of Christ, your Son. Lord Jesus Christ, friend and brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen.
(Source: Come, Lord Jesus: Redemptorist Mission and Novena Book)
I’d say there aren’t many priests in the country who haven’t heard or will hear that comment made many times. I have one priest friend who has a set response at this stage, he just says “Well sure when it’s over, I can slacken off til Christmas”:)
Is it a busy week? In ways, I suppose it is but it’s a week that is more or less mapped out for us. The scene is well set in today’s “Long Gospel” and the story is told a-new once again so that it becomes part of our fabric in the coming days.
Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, Mass of The Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening, Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday (possibly Stations of the Cross somewhere along the way that evening), Confessions and, of course, the Easter Vigil. It’s all there for us, scripted and laid out but we have to try to make our own of it.
Someone shared a video clip with me a little while ago. Two young brothers at Mass on Palm Sunday, totally bored by the long Gospel, they start to mess. Their mother chastises them but the response in better behaviour is short-lived. One challenges the other to shout out loud when the crowd is to say “Crucify him”. He bets his brother one dollar that he won’t.
There’s a change …. sure have a look yourself and you’ll see what I mean.
Whether it’s a busy week or not, is pretty much up to us. For it to be a meaningful week, we need to make it personal. That personal moment may well come at a moment we least expect and it will make all the other moments make sense ….
I typed about three lines last night at a minute or so to midnight just to fulfil my Lenten Promise!! Met my brother earlier and he told me he enjoyed it very much. Easier to read, he reckoned, than some of the others!! I was under-whelmed:)
Another friend Vibered to say “just one more week” and I’m not sure was that encouragement for me or gratitude for her …..
She’s right though. We’re into Holy Week now. Just one more week to:
It’s about two minutes to midnight. I’m just back from Co. Clare where I was involved in a Lenten Liturgy. If I don’t do this now, I’ll have missed a day.
The thought – don’t leave things to the last minute!!
Earlier today I had a Wedding Mass. Shortly before the Mass I met a couple whose Wedding Mass I celebrated just over two years ago. I asked them what I should say to the couple. The wife said I should tell them to “Never loose the spark. To talk always and to arrange a DATE NIGHT, once a month, where they can go out together, be alone with no mobiles or distractions and just be together”. I looked at the husband, “Well?” I asked. “Tell him to get a good pair of ear plugs! And don’t ever talk about the in-laws, it always ends up badly!”
I told them I’d share this with the couple getting married. I don’t think they believed me but share it I did. As I hoped, people laughed but, in fairness there was something in it I suppose. The need to keep communication and excitement alive in the relationship and also, maybe at times, to close your ears to things that might lead to conflict or difficulty.
I went on to say that I also wanted to share a second thought. I called to a house where an elderly lady had dropped dead. Her husband was devastated. He told me that he’d never forget her and though he had great neighbours and family, nobody would ever replace his wife. “We were great friends”, he told me “and we knew each others’ ways.” I have never forgotten this nor the look in his eyes as he spoke these words to me. She died on their 42nd Wedding Anniversary and to be able to say after four and more decades that your wife is “your best friend” has to be as good as it gets.
Between the advice of the two year couple and the witness of the 42 year couple, I think there was something for my wedding couple today.
Maybe there’s something for us all. That’s the thought …. be grateful for the friend who knows your ways and is still your friend.
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