Midnight Prayer for New Year's Eve

Midnight Prayer

by Richard Rohr

God of the seasons, Lover of the ages,

Master of every moment:

You who are beyond time yet within all time.

We return to you what you have given to us —

the moments, the minutes, the hours, the days,
the weeks, the months, and the year of  2009.

Time has been gracious to us again,

and we thank you for freely giving us these human bodies,

these events, and these relationships.

We have lived another year and we have died another year,

and now you are granting us the beginnings of another.

We now hand over to you the blessed year, 2009,

with all that it gave us and all that it took from us,

knowing that both are necessary, just like our breath.

We trust you in both the givings and the takings,

the inhalings and the exhalings.

May every breath of 2010 be a breath of the Holy Spirit,

joyfully received and joyfully returned,

beginning with this one right now.

Amen.

here is my suggestion for a new year's resolution:

subscribe to Richard Rohr's daily meditations for more great prayers.

(artwork is available from Inkslinger Art.)

Happy New Year!