Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Opening Prayer

You created us incomplete! You did it deliberately, didn’t You, so that not one of us would be self-sufficient and not need others! God of Life, within us is a loneliness which searches for partners and fulfillment. We are not self-contained. Humble us to respect the complimentary nature of men and women. Teach us to reverence each other’s gifts, not in competitive struggle, but as a creative engagement of life-giving energy. Give us the faith of the Syro-Phoenician who stretched the healing power and ministry of Jesus beyond chosen confines. Give me her determined heart and spirit in my pursuit of wholeness for myself and others. May my loneliness never create excluding boundaries, where I and others suffocate. May this woman of faith make us more sensitive to the risk and ways You call us to wholeness in our relationships with all Your children.