ETERNAL VIGILANCE

Lord God of Lights,

On the eve of your death
You asked of Your apostles in the darkness
of the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Could you not watch one hour with Me?”

Your friends had fallen asleep.
Soon soldiers came with torches and ropes
to arrest You and carry You away
to torture and to Your ignominious execution.

Help me, Lord, to remain awake to Your call
and to be ever vigilant for Your coming.
Light lamps of love and loyalty in my heart.

Where error rules, let me light tapers of truth.
Where faith is weak, let me kindle belief.
Where hope falters, let me give encouragement.
Where charity is absent, let me sow love.

We light candles to stand as our surrogates
commending to You the mystery of fire.
May my heart burn always with the ardor of love,
as Your own Sacred Heart is revealed to us
ringed in thorns and flames.

Renew in me the purification of my soul
as it was at the time of my baptismal fire.

Keep me always reminded of ashes of Good Friday
which remind us of our mortality, dust into dust,
but let me also be blessed and purified
with the new fire of Easter morning.

You showed Yourself to Moses in a burning bush.
Let me join my prayers to You
with the prayers of Moses
and with those of all the faithful
who who carry candles in procession
at Lourdes in France
and in shrines and churches all over the world.

Light beacon fires for me, dear Lord,
to guide me in my voyage to the shores of eternity,
and save me finally, my Jesus,
from the eternal Satanic flames of hell
to be united with You in Your Sacred Heart.

All this I pray with burning ardor,
in the name of Jesus,

Amen

(c) 2012 Donn B. Murphy