The Celtic Monk

I visit a site regularly put together by a group of Irish Jesuits called sacred space. I've been following the site for 10 years and it always seems fresh to me. When I visited Sacred Space on New Year's Eve I came upon the following prayer which I found thought provoking and wanted to share with you: Lord, 2009 was a difficult year across the globe. As it slips away in these short days, I pray about what you have done to me, and to my world, since last January. How was I touched by the recession which put millions of people out of work? Have I become more compassionate, or more selfish and defensive? The year saw failures on a massive scale, in banking and business and government. We could easily droop with depression, crying in the old Gaelic lament, ‘Ochón agus ochón agus ochón!' Success is what we do with our failures. Somewhere in all this misery, Lord, you have a lesson for us. We do not learn it if we simply circle the wagons and defend the way we have always been