BENEATH

 THE ASHES

Ashes,

where once stood

a building tall,

now almost nothing,

just soft silt beneath our feet.

Then you, Lord, rising tall,

up from the dead,

giving all of us the dream
of rising again,

a rising building tall,

church

the hope of all for all,

beneath the ashes.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

PRAYER FOR LENT

Come Holy Spirit
during these 40 Days of Lent,

lead me like you led Jesus,

into the wilderness, to the mountains,
to the temple, to those places within me

that I need to go to face those temptations

in my life that I need to face and overcome.
Give me words, Sacred Words,

like you gave to Jesus,

so that I might challenge and face

my hungers and my needs,

my demons and Satan, the tempter within.

Come Holy Spirit

during these 40 Days of Lent,

give me the strength you gave Jesus

to face the great temptations of life:

the temptation to take the easy way out,

like changing rocks into bread,

without working and sweating for our daily bread;

the temptation to reach for power and self glory,

Satan’s kind of power, not God’s power of humility;

the temptation to place myself in dangerous situations,

saying that God will watch over me,
and in the process stumbling,

because I said, “It’s all up to God”
without any decisions coming from me.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

INNER TEMPLE  PRAYER

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Walk around inside me.

Watch me. Warn me!

Show me the wisdom

of the sign of your cross within me.

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Show me that sometimes

I spend too much time

buying and selling,

worrying and worshipping things.

I have become a marketplace and a mall,

instead of becoming a temple

filled with your Spirit.

Lord, this Lent,

walk into this temple called me.

Let the zeal for your house

drive out my sheep and my oxen.

Turn over my money tables.

During these days of Lent

challenge me to make better choices

in living your new life,

so that when Easter comes,

I will have become

what you have called all of us to be:

a house of prayer and the house of God.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

ASH  WEDNESDAY 

Lord

of dirt and ashes,

Lord

of burnt and hurt,

enter into

my dark confessional this Lent.

Hear my secret sins --

the ones that really burn me.
See my smoldering resentments --

the ones I won’t let go of.

Then Lord, Easter me this Lent.

Come into my upper room.

Breathe into me your peace --

the peace that  flows from forgiveness --

the forgiveness of myself and others.

Then together we shall rise from the ashes.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

FEBRUARY PRAYER

                    
February
brief and cold,

tilting slowly towards

the light ...

moving into Lent,
ashes once again.

The slow change of seasons

inside and out,

winter wanting spring,

death wanting resurrection ....

Lord, I’m changing,

but slowly,

slowly with the seasons,

February,

brief and cold,

tilting slowly towards

the Light ....

         ©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

LENTEN PRAYER

Jesus, Temple,

and cleanser of temples,

cleanse my inner temple,

turn me and all my house

into a house of prayer.

Jesus, Passover,

pass over my sins,

but not over my house,

nor my work, nor all

the people in my life.

Jesus, Cross,

hanging high above
all the crosses

of the world
help me to help others

as they too make the

way of the cross.

Jesus, Grain of Wheat

that died and was buried

in the earth,

help me to die to self,

so as to be like you:

daily bread for others.

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association

LOVER’S   PRAYER 

Lord,

is February only for lovers:

Valentine’s Day

and young couples

longing for the spring?

Lord,

isn’t every day

a lover’s day:

if I stop along the road to listen to a friend,

or challenge an unkind slur,

or help carry another’s burden

when I see them struggling up the hill?

Lord,

isn’t every day

a lover’s day:

if I tell another

I am grateful for their presence

in my life and how they change

my winter into spring?

©  Andy Costello, 

Markings  Prayers

Thomas More Association