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Today’s prayer, a prayer of forgiveness, is based on Psalm 51.
 
Have mercy upon us, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercies, blot out our transgressions. Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity and cleanse us from our sin. For we know our transgressions, and our sin is ever before us. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and uphold us with a willing spirit. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Today’s prayer is from the PCUSA Book of Common Worship.

Holy God, source of all love,

on the night of his betrayal

Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment,

to love one another as he loved them.

Write this commandment in our hearts;

give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all,

who gave his life and died for us,

yet is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen.

Today’s prayer is from the Sarum Primer (1500s), which was a book of prayers and Christian worship resources collected at the Salisbury Cathedral.

God be in my head

and in my understanding.

God be in my eyes

and in my looking.

God be in my mouth

and in my speaking.

God be in my heart

and in my thinking.

God be at my end

and at my departing

Today’s prayer is by Augustine of Hippo (354-430), who was an early Christian theologian and philosopher. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern day Annaba, Algeria) and is viewed as one of the most important church fathers in Western Christianity.

Eternal God,

who are the light of the minds that know you,

the joy of the hearts that love you,

and the strength of the wills that serve you;

grant us so to know you

that we may truly love you,

and so to love you

that we may fully serve you,

whom to serve is perfect freedom,

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today’s prayer is by Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) and is said to be one of her favorite prayers. 

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly,
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us,
that every person we should come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine;
so to shine as to be a light to others;
the light, Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best,
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching:
not by words, but by our example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you.
Amen.

Today’s prayer is by Teresa of Avila, (1515-1582), a Spanish Carmelite nun, reformer, theologian and author. This prayer was contained in the book Teresa of Avila: Mystical Writings.

Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
If you have God you will want for nothing.
God alone suffices.

Today’s prayer is by John Vianney, Cure of Ars  (1786-1859), who was known for his priestly and pastoral work in the  parish of Ars, France. 

I love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love you until the last breath of my life.

I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you, than live without loving you.

I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally.

… My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you, I want my heart to repeat it to you as often as I draw breath.”

Today’s prayer  is by Henri Jozef Nouwen (1932-1996), who was a Dutch priest, professor, writer and theologian. This prayer is from A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee.

How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death? Yes, Lord, I have to die—with you, through you, and in you—and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess…. I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it. O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.

Today’s prayer is a matin, from the Byzantine Rite. The Byzantine Rite consists of liturgical texts developed to  guide services of vespers, compline, midnight office, matins, and hours. The original Rites were developed in the late 4^th century.  They have been adapted and are still used by Eastern Orthodox churches today.

As you have once given light

to the blind from birth,

shine upon my soul, which does not see your light,

O merciful Lord,

but lies buried in the darkness of sinful forgetfulness

and in the cares of this life.

Today’s reflection is from Henry Baron’s book Talking With God. Baron emigrated to the US in 1948 from the Netherlands,

I must follow you, Lord, on this Lenten journey
I must go where you went
with eyes and ears wide open
if I’m to change.
… keep me listening, Lord of all
let me not get lost or hide among
the heedless sons and daughters
of my own Jerusalem.