Shrove Tuesday (Lisa)
- holymoments442
- Feb 8, 2024
- 2 min read
Dear God,
I’m not the most learned Catholic out there but I hope I bring the essence of Your message into my understanding. I hope I always strive to know and do Your will. So, I say this prayer humbly, knowing that it comes from the Lisa colored lens of my heart.
I picture Shrove Tuesday as bringing all of our riches, all of our own good stores that we have inside of us to present to You even in our brokenness. I picture Shrove as being beyond pancakes, beads and worldly treats, though this practice is surely good, but can it also be a time to gather up what is measured as good within our own being? the things we get right? to take an accounting of all this, on the eve of Ash Wednesday?
I think this not to make an excuse in the face of our failings or to soften You or butter you up, God. It is a humbling time, this Lenten season, to peer intently into the shadowy side of our souls and come to You asking for mercy. So, it is also important that we shore ourselves up to know that we still have goodness inside of us for the journey. We can do this! We can look honestly at ourselves and humbly ask forgiveness but it helps to also remember our courage and kindness for the journey. We are not all bad.
We have fallen but we have gotten back up too. We have come from ashes and to ashes we will return but within those ashes we find the stuff of stars. We are both whole and broken and made whole again through You God.
We thank you God. Before we even ask, You, have forgiven us. We ask that You help us forgive ourselves so that we do not indulge in destructive self-loathing. Help us instead to rebuild our efforts to right our wrongs and move humbly forward.
I ask especially for all those who are living through difficult personal challenges whether medical, financial, or emotional at this Lenten time. I pray that they have a tender Lenten season and embrace all the goodness they carry within for the journey.
Thank you, Lord for your mercy and grace and for blessing the world with the goodness that rests in each of us.
Amen
This is such a heartfelt and beautiful prayer. It really captures the spirit of Lent honesty, humility, and hope. I appreciate how it reminds us to see both our brokenness and our goodness on the journey. For more reflections and alternative voices, I often read Before its News.