Lenten Prayer # 2

Dear Lord,
we are now in the holy season of Lent.
We begin to realize anew that these are the days of salvation,
these are the acceptable days.
We know that we are all sinners.
We know that in many things we have all offended Your infinite majesty.
We know that sin destroys Your life in us
as a drought withers the leaves and chokes the life from the land,
leaving an arid, dusty desert.
Help us now, Lord,
in our feeble attempts to make up for past sin.
Bless our efforts with the rich blessing of Your grace.
Make us realize ever more our need of penance and of mortification.
Help us to see,
in our ordinary difficulties and duties,
in the trials and temptations of every day,
the best opportunity of making up for past infidelities.
Every day we are so often reminded in field and wood,
in sky and stream,
of Your own boundless generosity to us.
Help us to realize that You are never outdone in generosity,
and that the least thing we do for You will be rewarded,
full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and flowing over.
Then we shall see, in our own souls,
how the desert can blossom,
and the dry and wasted land can bring forth the rich,
useful fruit that was expected of it from the beginning.

Amen.
 

Today, dear Lord,
we celebrate Your rising from the dead.
We are happy with You that You have been victor over death.
We look around us at the green fields,
filled with new life,
and are everywhere reminded of You.

The seeds we plant seem dry and dead,
but with the combined wonders of rain and sun,
and the powers of the earth,
they rise from their death-like sleep
and grow green and beautiful in our fields.
The trees, too, that stood so stark and lifeless
through the winter are now bright with living green.

With these reminders of a resurrection all about us every day,
help us remember that death
is not the end of things for us,
but the beginning.
Help us keep in mind that we shall rise again on the last day,
to live with You forever.
Then there will be no weeping any more, nor any tears;
no suffering, nor any pain,
but joy and happiness and love with You forever.
With You, then, will we celebrate the eternal Easter.
It will be an everlasting spring for us,
if we only realize now that there is no glory without suffering,
no Easter without a Good Friday.
Help us, by Your grace,
to live the good lives
that will merit this new life in heaven forever with You.

Amen.