A Prayer of Forgiveness

At the Infirmary Chapel, St Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts

I share with you this prayer I came across recently in my reading. It was actually in a book I had for a long time, but that’s the way it is sometimes - the gems we should reflect on are usually hidden somewhere in our bookshelf, until we discover them, sometimes by chance.
- You asked for my hands that you might use them for your purposes. I gave them for a moment; then withdrew them, for the work was hard.
- You asked for my mouth to speak against injustice. I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.
- You asked for my eyes to see the pain of poverty. I closed them, for I did not want to see.
- You asked for my life that you might work through me. I gave you a small part that I might not “get involved.”
- Lord, forgive me for calculated efforts to serve you only when it is convenient for me to do so, only in those places where it is safe to do so, and only with those who make it easy to do so.
- Father, forgive me, renew me, send me out as a usable instrument, that I may take seriously the meaning of the Cross.