Dear God,
Please accept the prayers I say these days,
without feeling, with distracted mind —
someone else’s prayers
as I have none of my own.
Please accept these gestures I make:
a sign of the cross from habit
and from a remnant of hope,
a restless shifting in my chair.
Please accept the hours I spend in church
because I ought to be there,
singing “Holy, holy” with your sacred people
who somehow lift their hearts to you.
Please accept the work I do
because it needs to be done,
an act of kindness here, a token of mercy there,
the occasional sacrifice in your name
from one who doesn’t dare to name you.
Please accept these motions I go through,
for they are what I have to offer,
for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)