Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
A Prayer Before Holy Week
Composed by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Dear Lord,
Your disciple Peter wanted to know who would betray you.
You pointed to Judas but a little later also to him.
Judas betrayed, Peter denied you.
Judas hanged himself, Peter became the apostle whom you made the first among equals.
Lord, give me faith, faith in your endless mercy,
your boundless forgiveness, your unfathomable goodness.
Let me not be tempted to think that my sins are too great to be forgiven,
too abominable to be touched by your mercy.
Let me never run away from you but return to you again and again,
asking you to be my Lord, my Shepherd, my Stronghold, and my Refuge.
Take me under your wing, O Lord, and let me know that you do not reject me
as long as I keep asking you to forgive me.
Perhaps my doubt in your forgiveness is a greater sin
than the sins I consider too great to be forgiven.
Perhaps I make myself too important, too great
when I think that I cannot be embraced by you anymore.
Lord, look at me, accept my prayer as you accepted Peter’s prayer,
and let me not run away from you in the night as Judas did.
Bless me, Lord, in this Holy Week, and give me the grace
to know your loving presence more intimately.
Amen.
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