Dear Lord, we are now in the holy season of Lent.
We begin to realize anew that these are the days of salvation, these are the acceptable days.
We know that we are all sinners. We know that in many things we have all offended Your infinite majesty.
We know that sin destroys Your life in us as a drought withers the leaves and chokes the life from the land, leaving an arid, dusty desert.
Help us now, Lord, in our feeble attempts to make up for past sin.
Bless our efforts with the rich blessing of Your grace.
Make us realize ever more our need of penance and of mortification.
Help us to see, in our ordinary difficulties and duties, in the trials and temptations of every day, the best opportunity of making up for past infidelities.
Every day we are so often reminded in field and wood, in sky and stream, of Your own boundless generosity to us.
Help us to realize that You are never outdone in generosity, and that the least thing we do for You will be rewarded, full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and flowing over.
Then we shall see, in our own souls, how the desert can blossom, and the dry and wasted land can bring forth the rich, useful fruit that was expected of it from the beginning.
Amen.