I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for Jesus’s steady love, and God’s mercy in my life, for the Holy Spirit staying with me as my friend by my side, and for Mary our Mother and the saints praying for all of us and leading us to Jesus. I’m also grateful for my family and the opportunity to be a priest here with all of you. I’m grateful for time to pray and for everyone who comes to pray with us on the weekend. What a joy! And then I could find so much more to say about gratitude, but I’ll conclude with this: Thank you to all our leaders and volunteers who do good for others and offer their hearts to the Lord by their service! Without you, our parish could never do the good that we do.

This week I’d like to teach you a pattern of prayer I use each day, one that helps me have peace in my soul and that helps me remember how good God is and how much hope we have. It is an especially good way to pray with a group, but it also works for prayer all alone. Let me show you the pattern and then explain it a little.

Leader: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Make the sign of the cross.
Leader: Let us remember we are in the holy presence of God. Pause for silence.
Leader: Let’s look on back on the last day, the last 24 hours, and thank God for whatever was good. Long pause.
Leader: Let’s look back on the last day, the last 24 hours, and ask God to forgive wherever we sinned or missed the mark. Short pause.
Leader: Let’s look to the days ahead, to the weeks ahead, and whatever we would like to God to bless, whomever we would like God to help, let’s bring those things, those people before him now in our hearts. Pause for silence.
Leader: Let us pray together … Start a prayer people know, like the Our Father or Hail Mary.
Leader: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Make the sign of the cross.

We start with thanksgiving and we give thanksgiving lots of time because giving thanks to God is one of the happiest parts of life, and one of the most strengthening parts of life. How it helps to remember God’s goodness, but how easy it is to forget to give thanks with the whirl of life around us!

Then we take a little time to say sorry to God because sin attacks our connection to God, and asking forgiveness reconnects us. In Greek, the word “sin” contains the idea of “missing the mark.” This part of the prayer looks forward to baptism someday, if we are not baptized, or the next time we go to confession, if we are already baptized.
Then we take time to present our needs to God because there is always something that needs blessing. We don’t have to say everything, because the Lord knows what we need. But it helps me have hope and helps me trust in the Lord and helps me to remember I’m not on my own, when I take time to explicitly put needs and hopes into his hands.

When you pray this prayer in a smaller-sized group, or with a friend, it can be a great variation on the prayer to stop after the long pause for silence where we ask God to bless and help, and to share with each other something that you prayed about. That lets everyone in the group join in prayer, thanking God for that gift or asking God’s help for that need. Sharing prayer in this way can really help a team or a group or a friendship stay connected to each other and rooted in God.

Advent starts next week! It will be a wonderful season with a new message series and beautiful music. If you like, you can take home one of the Little Blue Books, a collection of Advent reflections. I’m looking forward to preparing our hearts for the gift of Christmas all united together!