Prayers of the Faithful

We pray that in your love you hear this prayer,
Although your grace is cried for everywhere.
To save us from despair, we need you near us:
    Lord, graciously hear us.

Because we have no shame in ceaseless sins;
Because temptation wins, and wins, and wins,
We need your patient strength to stop and steer us:
    Lord, graciously hear us.

Because we speak too much; because, though weak,
We are not meek, and scorn what we should seek,
Invert our thirst for others to revere us:
    Lord, graciously hear us.

Because it is so certain that we doubt,
Forgetting what the faithless are without,
And know not why, of trustless anguish clear us:
    Lord, graciously hear us.

We pray that in your mercy you forgive
All those who mock how you want us to live;
And those who hear us speak your name, and jeer us:
    Lord, graciously hear us.

Remind us of your warmth too close to touch:
We are so poor, and yet are loved so much;
Feel worthless, yet are priceless.  Let that cheer us.
    Lord, graciously hear us.

Finished 24th June, 2010.  First published in Oremus, the parish magazine of Westminster Cathedral, Edition 208 (November 2018), p.15, and reprinted here with permission.

The parish church of Saint Martin, Meudon, Île-de-France