Week 1 - Prayer 2 

Blessed are you, Lord our God,

           Who has giv­en to each of us
           A per­son­al des­tiny and pur­pose in life.

We thank You, God of Mys­te­ri­ous Ways,

           that You have a holy design
           for each of us.

We rejoice

           that we are, each of us,
           spe­cial to You,
           that our names are writ­ten in the palm of Your hand
           and our place in his­to­ry,
           our pur­pose for exist­ing,
           is known with­in Your heart,
           since end­less ages.

We are grateful

           for that long line of holy peo­ple,
           who since ancient times have inspired oth­ers
           by their faith­ful­ness
           to their own spe­cial destinies.

They, by their very lives,

           shout out to us
           not to com­pro­mise our des­tinies,
           but to live ful­ly with­in Your eter­nal design.

Blessed are You, Inscrutible Lord,

           for those events, per­sons, tal­ents and loves
           which have helped us to dis­cov­er adven­ture and pur­pose,
           fruit­ful­ness and mean­ing,
           in our some­times emp­ty
           and seem­ing­ly insignif­i­cant lives.

Blessed are You

           for teach­ers, par­ents and oth­er guides
           who call us out
           from the cocoon of com­fort and con­tent­ment
           to embark upon that unique path
           which You have set forth
           for each of Your sons and daughters.

Blessed are You, Lord our God,

           who has giv­en to each of us
           a per­son­al des­tiny and pur­pose in life.

Amen

Hayes, Edward Prayers for the Domes­tic Church (Eas­t­on, KS: For­est of Peace Books, Inc.) p. 59. Reprint­ed with per­mis­sion from Prayers for the Domes­tic Church by Father Edward Hays, copy­right For­est of Peace Pub­lish­ing, Inc., 251 Muncie Rd., Leav­en­worth, KS 66048