“Loving God,
During the sacred season of Lent, bring us closer to you. Prepare a place in our homes and hearts for silence and solitude, so that we may re-discover the grace of a prayer-full life.
Help us to fast from those things that threaten the well-being of body and soul and remind us of the grace of simplicity. Enlarge our hearts so that we give to those in need and, in so doing, re-discover the grace of gratitude and generosity.
We offer to You ourselves, our families. Many of our families tried to do as best as they possibly could, and yet we have still been shaped and formed in ways inconsistent with what You desire for us. Lord, grant us greater awareness. Grant us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we can move forward in a way that’s different than the ways that we have, and what we have, inherited. Teach us how to go back so that we can go forward—not to stay in the past, but to allow the grace of God to inform our future.
May this season be a grace-filled time to rekindle Our love for and faith in you.
Amen.”