February 2024

Your silence, Lord, is not the silence of abandonment.
It is the silence of a friend who discreetly stands by the one he loves.
Help us to respect and love your silence.

Your discretion, Lord, is not indifference towards us.
It shows the deep respect you have for us.
Help us to appreciate and love your discretion.

We know it, we believe it, Lord,
in silence and discretion
You are always close to us and we thank you for it.

Lord, we know our fears, our weariness and our resignation.
But we also know your tireless desire to challenge us to new beginnings.
May listening to your word and the assurance of your Presence rekindle in us the desire to respond to the call
that you keep issuing to us.
May the Spirit who makes all things new, keep us in the joy of being with Jesus and in communion
with our sisters and brothers along the way for all time.

Lord our God, you are overflowing with love for us and we are still calculating.
Teach us about your generosity!
You run to meet us and we are still reluctant to take a step.
Give us a share in your momentum!
You commit yourself without counting the cost and we are still waiting for certainty.
Open our hearts to your grace!
Just when we think we’ve arrived, you’re there, ahead of us, encouraging us to keep going.
Give us faith in your presence!
You are always ready to sow with great gestures and large hands, trusting in the seed that will
germinate.
Don’t stop believing in us.

Holy Spirit, open to us the path of the desert,
This place of the heart where, in the face of oneself, weapons are silenced;
This place of listening, where the word of peace is heard in the midst of words;
This place of trust and friendship where we can live together in peace.
Holy Spirit, open to us the path of the desert,
The path of life, of the new life that is the fruit of Jesus’ Passover,
Offered to our thirst, given like manna for our journey.
Holy Spirit, guide us on the way of Jesus.

Lord God, you created us in your image, modeled with the fine dust of the ground, you clothed us with the beauty of the divine nature. But we have broken this alliance, lost the likeness, closed our hands on the vanity of idols…So you sent your Son Jesus so that his humanity may clothe these beings of dust that we are with Your light, and that his Spirit may regenerate us! Our dry bones, you want them to live and dance, for your service and the service of our sisters and brothers.

In this time of Lent, we resume our walk, on the dusty soil of this world, but already renewed in faith, hope and charity, by the grace of the Resurrection of Christ, your only Son and our brother.