Mistaking

Lord our God,

prevent us, we beg You, of falling victim to appearances,

of mistaking for You
those things which our hands have made,

our hearts have loved, or our minds have thought.

Give us the eye of faith by which to see You,

and blind us to all other things

that resemble You.

Grant us, merciful and loving Lord,

Your forgiveness for our idolatry,

our idealism, ideology, ideas

that we forge to hold You

Who are uncontainable

except by suffering.

Save us, O Lord,

from ourselves

without You.

Be with us,

we cry.

Sorry

Lord have mercy on us!

Without our brother we are lost,
and true are the words handed over to us
by Holy Church,
‘You can be damned alone,
but you cannot be saved alone.’

Teach us to count how few days we have left, Father,
to love and serve You in humility,
loving and serving the people around us,
being sorry for ourselves and them,
for our having offended You.

Give us time to repent,
so that in falling behind we can be found running ahead.

Running after You,
running after Jesus.
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