A LENTEN PRAYER

(Ava chapel in Lenten colors)

THE PRAYER OF ST. EPHREM

LORD AND MASTER OF MY LIFE,

DO NOT GIVE ME A SPIRIT OF LAZINESS

            OR IDLE CURIOSITY,

OR AMBITION OR EMPTY TALK.

INSTEAD, GRANT TO ME,  YOUR SERVANT,

A SPIRIT OF SELF-CONTROL AND HUMILITY,

       OF PATIENCE AND LOVE.

 

YES, LORD AND KING, ENABLE ME TO SEE

       MY OWN FAILINGS,

AND NOT TO JUDGE MY BROTHER OR SISTER,

FOR YOU ARE BLESSED UNTO THE AGES OF AGES.  

 

AMEN. 

 

The Prayer of St. Ephrem is the great Lenten prayer of the Byzantine-rite churches, Orthodox and Catholic.  It is prayed at least twice daily in the weekday services of Lent and used privately as well.   Its few lines take us directly to Jesus' fundamental imperatives:   repent,  be mindful of your own sins,   do not judge others. 

 

(This comment above on the Prayer of St. Ephrem is by Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, a monk of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville.  It appears in the February 2013   GIVE US THIS DAY monthly missalette, p. 8, published by Liturgical Press.)