A Prayer

Our help is in the name of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.

Father, how comforting to know that that is true. You are the one who has made all of this, heaven and earth. You are the one who keeps it going every split second of its existence. And You can do this because You are God Almighty. You are the God for whom nothing is too difficult. You decide to act and it happens. All You need to do is to speak Your will. What can stop You?

In comparison, we are so puny, so powerless, so frail. And yet, we rarely think of ourselves in these ways. We see ourselves as independent and able to do so much on our own. And out of that comes our pride.

Father, this is so wrong. We are not independent. At every moment, we are entirely dependent on You. We can accomplish nothing on our own. That we accomplish anything is only because You make it happen.

Help us, Father, to see reality more clearly. Help us to understand who You really are and who we really are. Help us to be humbled by a clearer view of these things.

And help us to rest in these things. We are weak, but You are strong. We are defenseless, but You are our caring Father and what or who can even touch us without Your permission. Help us to enjoy the comfort that comes from understanding Your great power, power which You have committed to our good as Your children.

And then, grant us the optimism that we need to live this life. There will be hard times. We will face adversities. There will be defeats. All these things have happened to us and to the rest of Your Church. But You have told us how this all ends. Jesus wins. He conquers the world by the Gospel so that it can once again be a perfect Garden. Your power insures that. Help us to embrace the truth of Your omnipotence so that we can live well for Jesus' sake. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.