I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence, and your holy spirit take not from me.
Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.—Mary Burke-Peterson is a parishioner at St. Nicholas Church, Evanston, an active volunteer in the Ignatian Spirituality Project, and a graduate student at Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University.
Lord, help me to speak the truth in front of the strong
and not say lies to gain the applause of the weak.
Teach me to love people as myself
and to judge myself as others.
Teach me that forgiving is the grandest for the strong
and that revenge is the primitive sign of the weak.
If you take away my fortune, leave me with hope.
If you take away success, leave me with the strength
to triumph from the defeat.
If I fail people, give me the courage to ask pardon.
If the people fail me, give me the courage to forgive.
Lord, if I forget You, don’t forget me.
—Prayer of St. Alberto Chruchaga, S.J.
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