Advent Prayer

                
Heavenly Father, may this season of Advent renew our hope and the trust which we place in the future that You have prepared for us. May our hope be strong in the face of all that makes for despair, fear and unbelief:

-          The cruelties that people inflict on one another,

-          The questions that cannot be answered,

-          The uncertainty of our tomorrows.

May our trust grow stronger, Father, as we celebrate the coming of Christ in glory,

-          When pain, suffering, parting and deaths will come to an end,

-          Wars shall cease, hunger be no more,

-          And everyone live secure in your eternal love.

Forgive, Father, all within us that is unprepared for Christ’s coming:

-          Our neglect of other people’s need,

-          Our involvement in what is trivial and our indifference to what is of lasting importance in our lives,

-          Our idleness in prayer and our lack of attention to Your word.

Make us ready for His coming that we may run to meet Him with love, adoration and gratitude.