Image: George Mendoza
Good morning, good God!
You’re such a good and faithful listener, Lord:
I’m grateful for your being « all ears »
when I come to you in prayer…
It seems you never tire of listening to me:
to my needs and wants, my hopes and fears,
my worries, my desires and my dreams…
No matter how large or small
my complaint might be,
how major or minor my hurt;
no matter how often I come in distress
with the same tears spilling
from the same broken heart:
you never turn me away…
You always listen carefully, lovingly, attentively,
’til you’ve wiped every tear from my face
and given me strength to face a new day…
No matter how often I come for your mercy,
no matter how often I ask for your pardon,
no matter how often my sins are the same:
you listen and hear my plea for forgiveness,
you unburden my heart of its guilt and its shame…
And then there are times when I want to pray
but can’t find the words, not even the tears,
to tell you what my heart would speak
– and especially then do you listen and know
the prayer that rises up wordless,
from my heart to yours,
spoken and heard in the silence we share…
when I give up on prayer (or even on you),
when my faith is fading and prayer’s forgotten:
even then you listen
the first few groans of prayer’s return…
I’m grateful, Lord:
so faithfully you listen to my prayer:
before a word is on my lips you know it
and long before I speak
you know everything I need…
Hear my prayer today, Lord,
and in your mercy
answer me…
Amen.