As we continue our series of prayers by Orthodox women past and present, we're delighted to share this Morning Prayer by a recent Woman of the Week, Mat. Christina Veselak:
O Lord Jesus, Lover of my Soul, I offer up this day to you. Please bless it with your presence, your guidance, and your healing grace.
If I wake up today, tired and sluggish, and maybe even depressed or frightened, let me find a way to remember that “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118). Help me to find You anyway, in the midst of the darkness. Please give me energy and fortitude to face the challenges of the day. Give me the grace to find ways to love others today, anyway, and help me be gentle with myself, and forgiving of my weaknesses.
If I wake up today, full of joy and energy, ready to take on the day with enthusiasm, let me be humbly grateful for these gifts. Please direct this energy to making the world a better place for others, and give me guidance to use these gifts wisely, and not squander them.
I bring into this day all my sinfulness: the habits of thought and behavior that are not of you; compulsions that trap me into harming myself and others and squander my precious time and energy; wounds from the past and present that blind me to your love and the love of others. As St. Paul says in Romans 7:
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Please reveal to me today the very next sin of which you would like me to repent, knowing humbly that I cannot take them all on at once! Please bring me intention, understanding and wisdom. Bring me the resources and courage I need to heal the underlying wounds and attitudes so that I can fully repent, and grant me victory today over these particular sins and passions. Please also allow myself to accept your forgiveness, and not heap contempt on myself, for that is simply the passion of pride.
Finally, help me today to use all of the gifts, resources and talents you have given me. Remove the blocks of fear, pride, distrust and despair which may block their full-flowering. Allow me to use them for your glory and the benefit of others. Grow in me the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, as I learn to live more in you and less in “this body of sin”.
Thank you.