Prayer: Break the Fatal Enchantment

 


O My Forgetful Soul,

Awake from your wandering dream; 

  • turn from chasing vanities, 
  • look inward, forward, upward, 
  • view yourself, 
  • reflect upon yourself, who and what you must soon be.

You are a creature of God, 

  • formed and furnished by him, 
  • lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;

Do you not desire to know God's ways?

O God,

You who are the injured, neglected, provoked Benefactor 

  • when I think upon your greatness and your goodness 
  • I am ashamed at my insensibility, 
  • I blush to lift up my face, 
  • for I have foolishly erred.

Shall I go on neglecting you, 

  • when every one of your rational creatures should love you, 
  • and take every care to please you?

I confess that you have not been in all my thoughts, 

  • that the knowledge of yourself as the end of my being has been strangely overlooked, 
  • that I have never seriously considered my heart-need.

But although my mind is perplexed and divided, 

  • my nature perverse, 
  • yet my secret dispositions still desire you.

Let me not delay to come to you;

Break the fatal enchantment that binds 

  • my evil affections, 
  • and bring me to a happy mind that rests in you, 
  • for you have made me and cannot forget me.

Let you Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ, 

  • for I am slow to learn;

And hear my broken cries.

The Valley of Vision

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