‘Last week one of my daughters and I had a terrible argument, and we remain quite distant. It is from that event that this prayer poem surfaced.’ — William Stephenson

O God,
I come to you now,
even when my heart
has been closed to someone I love.
Even as I am aware of the Gospel,
I bow in humility and I wonder…
How is it that I can shut my heart to another?

O God,
How foolish I am,
my vanities,
my walls of prejudice,
my barriers of judgment,
my empty pride.

O patient God,
Have mercy upon my tired old soul,
You who breathed into me and us all,
the one breath of our common life.
Breathe yet once again, and deeper,
and bring me to my soul’s re-awakening.

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