A Prayer for Failure
Save me, O Lord, from the praise of men, and from the success that will deaden my heart with the love of worldly accomplishment.
Grant me defeat so that your victory may be complete.
Grant me friendlessness so that You may be my only friend.
Grant me weakness so that You may be my strength
Grant me foolishness so that You may be my wisdom.
Grant me humiliation so that You may be my only boast.
Grant me enemies so that I may learn to love them as You do.
Grant me disgrace so that I may have only Your grace to sustain me.
Grant me suffering so that I can know only your comfort.
Grant me poverty so that I might be rich in Your Spirit.
Grant me hopelessness so that I may hope only in You.
Lord Christ, grant me to love you as the thief on the cross loved you, who offered you no good work save to call upon your mercy and who received life eternal by virtue only of his repentance. Crucify my ambitions so that I might live with only love for You.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.