Week of May 27, 2002
Helen L.

"Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth."
Psalm 54:2

I dislike asking for things, bothering people with my requests. It makes me uncomfortable. And it makes it hard to pray. I don't like to pray for myself -- I come away feeling selfish and self-centered. And yet I do pray for myself. Constantly. It bothers me, this hypocrisy. I sat down the other day to list the occasions, which I remember praying most fervently. Every single prayer turned out to be a prayer for myself. I've prayed for sleep, for courage, for health, for ... well, for me. And it all made me rather ashamed.

Then it occurred to me that a good half of the Lord's Prayer is a prayer for the self. This prayer -- so often held up as an example of selflessness -- asks for things: give us our daily bread, forgive our debts, forgive our debtors, free us from temptation and evil.

I began wondering about the possibility of praying altruistically for one's self. How have others prayed for themselves? And did they succeed in praying selflessly? As a librarian, I spent most of my career days looking for things. So I went looking for prayers in the classical literature, and I leave you to judge whether these 2 examples do, indeed exhibit altruism.

General Lord Astley: "O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me."

A fisherman's prayer from the Breton coast: "Dear God, be good to me: the sea is so wide and my boat is so small."

Teach us to pray, so that we may begin to fully understand the depth of your blessings. And as we grow in the light of your love, may we look beyond ourselves and seek peace and hope for all God's people. Amen

Contributed by Helen L.
Published Monday May 27, 2002
Week 26 of Liturgical Year A