Lectionary readings (Click the links to see the readings): Leviticus 19.1-2,11-18 | Psalm 19.7-14 | Matthew 25.31-46

Worry about money

Prayer

Lord, I have just balanced my cheque book. And now I must turn to you to find calm and peace. And dignity as well. This dignity which has been eroded for twenty years because of the awful worry about "making ends meet".
This peace which I'm deprived of for fear of not getting through another month. This calm which I lose when my small income disappears and I never have a penny left.

What I fear, Lord, is not really poverty. I'll survive one way or another.
What I'm afraid of is degradation. Afraid of anything but money, just because I don't have any. Afraid of always making easy comparisons with others who earn more. And this a hundred times a day, in front of shop windows at the counters of department stores.

Lord, I'm also afraid of jealousy. Afraid of saying, with a scornful grin, "Some people are just lucky …". Afraid of hatred also. And to top it all off, Lord, I've discovered that I'm getting greedy.

That's why I'm talking to you, Lord. To ask you for the grace to let me keep my dignity.

—Paul Geres. Prayers for impossible days, tr. from French by Lucien Jerphagon. Revised edition. Augsburg Books, 2001.

"I manage my own business…"—Prayer of the Ant.

Psalm 19.14: "May the words of my mouth …". Sung by Tim Hughes.