Prayer For Solitude
Jesus, teaching the value of solitude,
You reserved many moments to reflect.
You often departed for solitary places,
Withdrawing Yourself into the wilderness,
Or going up into a mountain to pray.
In loneliness, You spoke to the Father!
Teach me how to pray in seclusion,
To perceive the Father within myself.
Teach me to welcome solitary moments,
To enjoy the solitude within myself,
While listening to Your inspirations.
In solitude, Your mysteries are uncovered!
Yahweh God,
Creator of all humans,
You give personal uniqueness to each of us,
while forming us to need others as community.
We vacillate, Lord, between two extremes:
Fierce individualism and sought-for interdependency.
At times, we seek and need time alone,
Time to unplug from the multiple voices within and without.
At times, we seek and need spiritual companions,
Those who fill in our emptiness and hold our confidences.
For our struggling, muddied thoughts and complicated, inner desires
demand these two responses:
time alone with You, countered with
the caring touch of others
who share laughter birthed in absurdity,
who dry stinging tears birthed in futility.
How rich is your Word, overflowing
with stories of faithful battered pilgrims who
found respite in solitude and with friends, seekers like:
Moses and Joshua,
Hannah and Eli,
David and Jonathan,
Elijah and the widow,
Jesus and Martha, Mary and Lazarus,
Paul and Timothy.
So our prayer this day, Lord,
is for the ability to discern our biggest spiritual void
Whether for the good sense to pull away for awhile,
Or for the humility to accept the gracious touch of another.
In gratitude we recognize that your Spirit of care for us
trumps our fear,
the fear of being abandoned and alone.
And we ask that we be caringly sensitive,
open to walk alongside others whose
needs are equivalent to ours,
those who yearn for similar wisdom and friendship.
Amen.
Dearest Lord, amid the daily rushing to and fro, deadlines, caregiving, commuting, schooling, exercise and social life, we forget to take a step back and seek out quiet and rest. Help us take time to retreat to a solitary place just as Jesus took time to withdraw from the crowds and rest in You. Without this haven, our lives become a frantic whirl of activity, a hamster's wheel that seems to have no end and no purpose. When we start to flag, when our energy and zest for life dries up, remind us that we are perishing for lack of the Living Water, the Spirit who replenishes and nourishes us, who shares our burden with us, who comforts and renews us. Let us daily withdraw into the cell of our souls and meet You there- in quiet, in peace, in rejuvenation, in serene and joyous love. Amen.
Great God, who has told us, "Vengeance is mine," save us from ourselves, save us from the vengeance in our hearts and the acid in our souls. Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt, to punish as we have been punished, to terrorize as we have been terrorized. Give us the strength it takes to listen rather than to judge, to trust rather than to fear, to try again and again to make peace even when peace eludes us. We ask, O God, for the grace to be our best selves. We ask for the vision to be builders of the human community rather than its destroyers. We ask for the humility as a people to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.
We ask for the love it takes to bequeath to the children of the world to come more than the failures of our own making. We ask for the heart it takes to care for all the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq, of Palestine and Israel as well as for ourselves. Give us the depth of soul, O God, to constrain our might, to resist the temptations of power to refuse to attack the attackable, to understand that vengeance begets violence, and to bring peace--not war--wherever we go.
For You, O God, have been merciful to us. For You, O God, have been patient with us. For You, O God, have been gracious to us. And so may we be merciful and patient and gracious and trusting with these others whom you also love. This we ask through Jesus, the one without vengeance in his heart. This we ask forever and ever. Amen