Pick up the pieces

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday in the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 25 September 2023
Ezra 1:1-6   ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + >]]]]'>   Luke 8:16-18

Thank you,
dearest God our Father,
in giving us this new day
to pick up the pieces of
our lives, to become better,
to be well, to be fulfilled in you
through Christ Jesus.

Let me claim this life,
Father; let me own 
and embrace this gift
of life to make it good;
let me be focus with 
the present and what lies
ahead, to let go but learn from
the past.  Let me live 
the life you have meant 
for me so that when finally
I have reached the end 
of this journey, you may take
my whole life as my only offering
to you, dear God.

As the psalmist says today,
"The Lord has done great things
for us; we are glad indeed.  
Restore our fortunes, O Lord...
those who sow in tears shall reap
rejoicing.  Although they go forth
weeping, carrying the seed to be sown,
they shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves."
(Ps. 126:3,5-6).

May your word guide us
as we live our lives, Jesus;
let us shine like lamps to make
you known to everyone,
that you alone O Lord is 
our life and meaning,
our only fulfillment.

We pray also today
for those rebuilding their
lives - those who are finally
set free by all kinds of bondage
to sin and evil, those who have
finally decided on their own
to choose you, to do what is
good, those who have finally
broke free from vices and
every kind of slavery this world
has continued to surreptitiously
promote to hide its sinister plans;
may we find the "goodwill" of 
the many other "King Cyrus of Persia"
you continue to send us, Father, 
so we too, like your exiled people
of old, may start to pick up the
pieces of our lives 
and rebuild our
lives in you again.
Amen.