Let us pray…
God, we ask for your blessing during this Holy Season of Lent. Give us the grace of your presence, your inspiration, and your call to a renewed life grounded in you.
Lord, be with us, and hear our prayer.
Help us to empty our lives of that which is not truly necessary. Give us the gift of hungering for you, of thirsting for your justice, of desiring your presence in our hearts and our lives. Bless our fasting and our abstinence so that it may open our lives to offer you welcome. Come to us in silence, in darkness, in nighttime, and in unknowing.
Lord, be with us, and hear our prayer.
Guide us to find you in the people we meet, in the family we love, and in those we serve. Inspire us to listen to those who come to us with words of need or of blessing. Help us to be vulnerable in response to your love, and to meet you in those who are hungry or sick, in the homeless, in prisoners, and in refugees.
Lord, be with us, and hear our prayer.
Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to be honest before you, to bring our needs and our sorrows, our sins and our contrition, our love and our desire, our hope and our delight, to you, Lord. Show us how to rest in you, and direct us to listen for your still small voice.
Lord, be with us, and hear our prayer.
As we travel through this season of Lent, give us the grace to trust you, the desire to pray to you, the strength to fast for you, and the mindfulness to encounter you in those who are in need. As each day in this season gets a little bit longer, draw us ever closer to your love and your mercy, and to the joy that awaits us when we encounter you in the breaking of the bread.
Lord, be with us, and hear our prayer.
We pray in the words you have taught us:
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
N.B. I wrote this prayer for the candidates and catechumens of my parish’s RCIA class, so it is designed to foster a spiritual approach to the season of Lent. The petitions are intended to foster the three characteristics of a Holy Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I’m happy to share it, and hope that it may be a humble gift to the glory of God. Please feel free to share this prayer with others (if you could link back to this page, I would appreciate it). If you want to use it for personal devotion, simply substitute “Lord, be present and hear my prayer” for the responses.
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