A LITANY OF PRAISE, THANKSGIVING, AND REPENTANCE

[For the 60th anniversary of my priestly ordination on April 3rd, 1954]

I praise you Lord 

          for my ordination to the priesthood, sixty years ago today

          for my baptism and confirmation    

          for the sacrament of penance, through which you constantly forgive my sins

          for the Eucharist, in which I receive your love, your power, your goodness,

                    your joy, your peace

          for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, in all life’s changes “the same,

                   yesterday, today, and forever”

          for your holy word, which enlightens and guides me on life’s way

          for the gift of priesthood, which makes me the servant of your holy people,

                   though unworthy, and the herald of your truth

I thank you Lord ...

          for a wise upbringing at the hands of good and loving parents

          for a younger sister, brother, stepmother, and half-sister

          for loving friends to share my laughter, tears, struggles, triumphs,

                   and defeats

          for a wonderful education, still unfinished

          for health, energy, and strength

          for fine food, and “wine that makes glad the heart of man” (Ps. 104:15)

          for music, the laughter of friends, and the joy of children

          for adventure, beauty, and romance – in many countries and on the

                   ocean wave

          for deliverance from perils, known and unknown

          for hardships, rebuffs, humiliations, disappointments, failures – which

                   remind me of my need of you

          for all who have inspired me, shamed me, reminded me of my high calling

                   as your son, your priest

          for the forgiveness of those I have wronged or disappointed

          for your boundless patience, reflected in the patience of fellow travelers

                   on the pilgrimage to you

Forgive me Lord ...

          for pride and arrogance and every evil way

          for stubbornness and insistence on my own will, my own ideas

          for words, looks, deeds that have inflicted pain

          for insensitivity to others’ needs, weaknesses, and moods

          for seeking self instead of you

          for opportunities neglected, words of comfort never spoken, deeds of

                   kindness left undone

          for bad examples given, confidences abused, promises unkept

          for yielding to discouragement, cynicism, and despair

          for seeking nourishment from idle dreams and neglecting today’s

                   achievements, satisfactions, and rewards

Support me Lord ...

all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and my work is done. Then in your mercy grant me a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last. (1)

Stay with me Lord ...

          be my remaining journey long or short

          stay with me, guide my vessel safely into port.

                                      *                 *                 *

          When I turned seventy, I started to pray daily that the years that remain to me may be fruitful.  At the age of seventy-five I added a daily prayer for a happy and holy death. I am confident that both petitions will be answered. How, I gladly leave to the loving providence which has surrounded and upheld me for almost 86 years.

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         (1)   This prayer is composed from language used by Newman in two Anglican sermons from 1842 and 1843.  I sometimes use it at burials and have asked that it be used at mine.

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Adapted from the version originally composed for my 60th birthday on 14 May 1988 and printed in my autobiography No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace (Tate Publishing 2008)