Praying to overcome personal differences

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. NIcanor F. Lalog II
Friday in the Second Week of Ordinary Time, Year II, 19 January 2024
1 Samuel 24:3-21  <'[[[[>< + ><]]]]'>  Mark 3:13-19

Dearest Lord Jesus:
today I imagined myself
one of your twelve Apostles
you have called and appointed;
I also imagined myself like
David in the first reading,
stealthily cutting off an end
of King Saul's mantle while 
inside a cave in pursuit of him
to kill him!

In my prayers,
I felt one desire,
one important thing
I need in the moment:
the grace to overcome
personal differences
especially with my co-workers
in your vineyard,
with those above me
as superiors.

Teach me, O Lord,
to overcome differences
with others like your Apostles
who came from various backgrounds
with temperaments and attitudes
even poles apart
like Matthew the former tax collector
and collaborator with the Romans
working with Simon the Cananean
also referred to as the Zealot;
teach me to focus more on you,
to always find you,
most of all,
to bring you and share you
in every dealing with others
I have differences with.

Grant me the grace 
to be centered in you alone
than be overtaken by our many
differences that ruin 
the mission you have entrusted to us.

Likewise,
teach me the virtue of respect
that literally means to look
again and again (re specere);
when differences become so
deep, even would cause us
to fight others like David and
King Saul,
let me still focus on you,
O Lord,
to respect the person
and their office
and designation
in order to avoid hurting
and dividing your precious Body,
the Church.
Amen.