For May 15, 2022
Dear Loving God of Us All:
We are renewed as we reflect that many years before the birth of Jesus people were quite aware of Your characteristics as are reflected in this weekend’s Psalm. We ponder these words and phrases: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and compassionate; we pray that we allow Your grace and love to help us grow in these same characteristics.
This is one way we can be more faithful to the command Jesus reminds us of in this weekend’s Gospel: “love one another.” We pray that in the process of our reflection, we can realize more clearly that every person is created in Your image and endowed with these characteristics. We give thanks to You, O Blessed Savior, for the example You set that shows us how to see one another as Your sisters and brothers. We promise to forego any thoughts of what we think we know of each other, regardless of what our ingrained prejudices might judge about one another, and regardless of what anybody else might think of others.
O Holy Spirit, remind us that Your wisdom is readily available to us to help us choose loving ways. This process can be difficult and challenging, to see ourselves and one another as the beloved and precious people we are and to interact with each other with that perspective. Through Christ Our Lord.