Lord, Teach Us to Pray

As I write this, it is snowing, sufficient to give a context to at least one line of my blog! And secondly, I will decide NOT to list again the reasons why it is a “December kind of day”! Instead, I ask you to join me in singing Joe Wise’s poignantly expressed song of the 1970s where he brings it all together in our human minds and hearts, and I believe that our song and prayer will lift it all into the very Heart of God during this Lenten season. Let us pray:

Lord, teach us to pray...
It’s been a long and cold December kind of day
With our hearts and hands all busy in our private little wars
We stand and watch each other now from separate shores
We lose the way.

I need to know today the way things should be in my head.
I need to know for once now the things that should be said.
I’ve got to learn to walk around as if I were not dead.
I’ve got to find a way to learn to live. (Refrain)

I still get so distracted by the color of my skin.
I still get so upset now when I find that I don’t win.
I meet so many strangers—I’m slow to take them in.
I’ve got to find a way to really live. (Refrain)

I stand so safe and sterile as I watch a man fall flat.
I’m silent with a man who’d like to know just where I’m at.
With the aged and the lonely I can barely tip my hat.
I need to see the sin of “I don’t care.” (Refrain)

I stand so smug and sure before the people I’ve out-guessed.
To let a man be who he is I still see as a test.
And when it all comes down to “must,” I’m sure my way is best.
I’ve got to find what “room” means in my heart. (Refrain)

Lord, teach us to pray.
We believe that we can find a better way.
Teach us to pray. We lose the way.
Teach us to pray.

Thank you, dear readers, for joining me in prayer.  I love you.

And all the people said: AMEN.

Renée Domeier, OSB