Are you ready for Lent? I enter Lent with a mix of feelings and thoughts. I know our Lord wants to challenge me. And as crazy as it might sound, I want Him to challenge me.

We’re supposed to be different at the end of Lent.

Our capacity to accept our inheritance of eternal life and the resurrection of our bodies needs to increase. How will we decrease and make more room for Christ to increase. If you’re anything like me that means you probably need a lot of spring cleaning.

Jesus won’t push us beyond our capacities. He’ll also never ask us to face crosses He’s not prepared to give us what we need to carry them; including most importantly sharing more of Himself in new ways with us to help us carry our loads.

I got the clear nudge this year to write 40 new prayers. Three years ago, I did my best to answer His call to write 365 prayers. I fell short of the goal. On the Disciplesontherun.com website there are 230 prayers in the Daily Prayers section of the website.

Please pray for me that I might be granted every grace I need and the fortitude to accept our Lord’s invitation to write 40 new prayers. At the front of each week, I’ll email you 7 prayers.

A quick note on how I’m approaching these prayers…

• Prayers are based on Catholic Church’s daily Liturgy of the Word. There will be links to the day’s readings after each prayer. I encourage you to read them.
  
• Prayers are Trinitarian in nature. They are written directly invoking Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the beginning and end of each prayer.
  
• Prayers are prefaced and concluded with scripture.
  
• I’m a storyteller and a fumbling poet. I write the prayers from a reflective space. I rely on imagery that pops into my mind. I apologize if at times the language feels obscure. I’m trying to translate the inner workings of my heart and sacred imagination.

Please widely share these prayers. We’re stronger when we pray together. May these prayers be the work of the Holy Spirit. I’m neither the owner nor creator of these prayers. I’m an imperfect conduit sharing what rises in my heart.

We never know what will touch another person. That’s the work of the Beautiful Spirit. If you feel a nudge trust it.

Okay one last note for Monterey folks: We’ll be gathering at my house after Friday night adoration at San Carlos Cathedral. See details at the end of this newsletter. Please feel free to invite others. It’s an open door.

May God bless your Lenten journey. Let us repent and believe in the Gospel. Jesus bless you!

DAY 1: Ash Wednesday, February 18^th

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51: 1

Father, of unsurpassing Love, Jesus, King of All, and Beautiful Spirit, of endless Light, consecrate this Lenten season of renewal. Ignite our souls with inextinguishable fires of Your Love. In our fasting make us hunger and thirst for You above all other things. Help us return to you with our whole hearts. We know you see us. We cannot hide from You. We want to drop our defenses. We want to be supple in Your Hands. Let our souls humbly stand naked before you with all our brokenness. Grant us clear honest consciences sustained by gentle contrite sorrow. Let our grief draw the healing, touch of your merciful hands. May we be open to whatever we need, trusting always in your perfect Judgment. Please prepare us to receive whatever we need to grow closer to you, that we might be different and transformed by this Lenten season. We anticipate the Joy of Your Resurrection and your victory for us. We want to experience the power of Your Love. Let it shake us. Obliterate the barriers we have erected. Receive our whimpers, our tears, our protestations, and whatever arises within us that is easily overwhelmed by your Perfect Burning Love. Reconcile us with you, and with all our brothers and sisters. May we be especially attuned to the nudges of our guardian angels, the host of angels, and the communion of saints who will be guiding us to every Grace You want to give us. And may we be channels of Your Grace for others. Father, we set our eyes on your glorious promise of eternal Life. Jesus let us walk with you and grant us your salvation. Spirit of Truth and Love fashion the details of our Lenten journey to conform with every movement of God’s Divine Will. “If today we hear your voice, harden not our hearts.”* AMEN

*Psalm 95: 8

Link to Readings for Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-18
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17
2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

DAY 2: Thursday, February 19^th

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
Psalm 1: 1-2

Father, Giver and Sustainer of Life, Jesus, Master carpenter of the True cross, and Beautiful Spirit, Consummator of Love’s Delight, fortify your pilgrim children. As we begin our defying walk, silence our deafening assertions to go it alone. Help us embrace our blessed dependency on You. Guide us in seeing each signpost on the road; understanding how each and every decision, each and every thought, word, action, inaction, and intention are minuscule monumental opportunities to say YES to your Lifegiving Love. Sustain us with infatigable hope. Assure us, that with You at our side, we will reach our final destination. Please keep filling our backpacks with nourishing nuggets of your Law. May each morsel we digest yield a bursting delight of never ending sweet loving possibilities enacted by your Mercy. Write Your Law on our hearts, and may it guide us to trails that lead to You. When our backpacks become heavy and turn into crosses, compassionate us to others’ burdens. Let us experience Your shoulders next to ours. In your Goodness lighten our loads as we prayerfully commend our brothers’ and sisters’ crosses to You. O Father, thank you for the infinite trails You have cleared in making us explorers of Your Love. Jesus, help us take up our daily crosses and follow you. And Beautiful Spirit, teach us to expect and savor the unexpected ways You will animate our journeys. You have taught us that “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for [Your] sake will save it.”* AMEN

*Luke 9: 25

Link to Readings for February 19th Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Luke 9:22-25

DAY 3: Friday, February 20^th

Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.
Psalm 51: 15-17

Father, of Glorious Charity, Jesus, our Morning Star and Bridegroom, and Beautiful Spirit, Servant of Melodious Love, purify the altars of our contrite hearts. Guide us to pleasing sacrifices that rise before You like wisps of fragrant incense. Embolden and sanctify our sacred imaginations. Let us serve You in ways that perpetuate Your Goodness. Turn our truculent cries into trumpet blasts, heralding Your Living Presence. Draw us away from self-imposed compulsory acts when they are devoid of love. Hasten the True heart of our fasting. May our Lenten offerings be forever embodied in our souls. May we be wrapped in Your Gracious Blessings. Deliver us from selfishness.  Grant us opportunities to be Your Hands which shatter the enslaving yokes of hunger, homelessness, oppression, and despair. May we be instruments of Your Will. Alert us to sacrifices that build Your Kingdom. Lord, we depend upon Your Light. Break forth like streaking dawn and dispel our darkness. Father, thank you for the freedom to bring You offerings. Jesus, Consummate our Lenten sacrifices that they might be full of Your Mercy and Healing. And Beautiful Spirit, lift our contrite hearts up to heavens with Your fiery Loving Winds. We commit this Lent to “seek good and not evil so that [we] may live, and the Lord will be with [us].”* AMEN

*Amos 5: 14

Link to Readings for February 20^th
Isaiah 58:1-9
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 18-19
Matthew 9:14-15

DAY 4: Saturday, February 21^st

Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
    save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord,
    for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
    for I put my trust in you.
Psalm 86: 1-4

Father, Well of Uncreated Love, Jesus, the fulfilling Living Stream of Life and Truth, and Beautiful Spirit, overflowing bucket of changeless Peace, drench us with Your Joy. Dig into our crusting souls parched by egregious blindness. Tap into the fonts of our Baptismal Waters. Transform us into running streams feeding springs of Your fertile fields ripe with Loving visions. Sustain us in our daily toils in Your vineyard. Redirect Your Blessings away from brackish selfish traps to potentiating crystal seas swelling with Your Pure Mercy. Gladden the souls of your servants, for to you, O Lord, we lift up our souls. Call us by name. Help us recognize Your whispers and hearken to Your voice. Beckon us to abandon our sinful taxing occupations that keep us from knowing You. Grant us the courage to leave everything behind that estranges us from You. Be pleased to let us host You at banquets of reckless trust that honor Your Goodness and Glory. Father, replenish Your earthen vessels with Your cleansing Waters. Jesus, cure our sicknesses and be our physician. And Beautiful Spirit, anoint us with Healing Love. We shall “find [our] joy in the Lord, and [He] will cause [us] to ride in triumph on the heights of the land.* AMEN

*Isaiah 58: 14

Link to Readings February 21^st
Isaiah 58:9-14
Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Luke 5:27-32

DAY 5: Sunday, February 22^nd  (Lectionary 22)

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51: 10-12

Father, Giver of the Gift that never stops giving, Jesus, manifold ingratiating Righteousness, and Beautiful Spirit, blanket of Love enfolding every transgression, restore us to Your original Vision. Breathe Your Life into us. Let us inhale Your enrapturing Order. Oxygenate every cell of our souls with Your Will and Purpose for us. Fill our hearts with Right Judgment. Lift us out of festering putrid cesspools that suck us into accelerating dead whirlpools of sin. When our imaginations brew spellbinding potions piquing our curiosities, pour out our bewitching cauldrons onto Your Holy Grounds. Govern our storied rationalizations that are rife with self-empowering empty promises. Turn our attentions back to You. Quiet our racing minds. Lead us away from every temptation. Let us follow You into the desolating desert governed by holy stillness. Embattle us with entrusting patient obedience. Assure us of your insuring Word that surpasses the breads of impassioned earthly desires we seek but will never satisfy our hunger for Your Life. Shield our vision from deceptions and open the eyes of our hearts. Grant us the Joy of salvation. Father, grant us an abundance of Your Grace that we may walk every day with You. Jesus, reign in our hearts and make us co-participants in Your righteousness. And Beautiful Spirit, fill our hearts with gratitude and Your burning Love. We will “worship the Lord [our] God, and serve him only.* AMEN

*Matthew 4: 10, Deuteronomy 6: 13

Link to Readings February 22^nd
Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11