Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11
O Lord, beat my sword into a plowshare:
my anger into acceptance,
my pride into humility,
my impatience into patience,
my doubt into faith,
my selfishness into compassion.
O Lord, beat my spear into a pruning hook:
that I may cut out all that is unnecessary
in my life,
and all that is distracting in my life,
and all that is sinful
and especially all that is subtly sinful,
that slowly dulls and deadens me
so that I no longer see you
and hear you;
may I clear away all that chokes the good
and holy and clean
and free my true self, my self in You.
Lord,
help me to know my unworthiness,
my smallness,
my ordinariness,
my limitation and my need;
help me to admit
how little I understand
and how little I can do,
so that you can enter into me.
O Lord,
enter under my roof:
break through my thick skull,
break through my useless thoughts,
break through my anxiety
and my obsessiveness and my fear.
O Lord,
come into the secret of my heart
and never leave me,
make of my heart a home
for your spirit and your love,
make of my heart a fire so bright
it will light my way
through the darkness to come.