A Prayer for Recovery

Jesus,
You gave me this body, help me to respect it and honor it.
You gave me this life, help me to live it fully.
You gave me your body and blood, help me to appreciate spiritual and physical food.
You gave me unconditional love, help me to love myself and accept the love of others.
You gave your life on the cross, help me to place my suffering at the foot of the cross.
You gave forgiveness to all, help me to accept your forgiveness and forgive myself.
You gave me a purpose, help me to follow your will.
Amen.
 (Journal entry 6/1/13)

A New Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the people I cannot change,

which is pretty much everyone,

since I’m clearly not you, God.

At least not the last time I checked.

And while you’re at it, God,

please give me the courage

to change what I need to change about myself,

which is frankly a lot, since, once again,

I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.

It’s better for me to focus on changing myself

than to worry about changing other people,

who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying,

I can’t change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up

whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter

than everyone else in the room,

that no one knows what they’re talking about except me,

or that I alone have all the answers.

Basically, God,

grant me the wisdom

to remember that I’m

not you.

Amen
- Fr James Martin