“Prosper for us the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17)
When all are gathered, the leader lights a center candle and begins.
LEADER: Christ, our Light, has called us to follow his example.
ALL: May our work this week be done in his light and shed his love on those we meet.
LEADER: Let us pause to reflect on how our work can aid others.
Brief pause for reflection.
LEADER: Lord, prosper for us the work of our hands.
ALL: Bless those who work with us.
LEADER: If the Lord is not with us, we labor in vain (Ps 127:1).
ALL: Lord, prosper for us the work of our hands.
PSALM 90:1-2, 13-17
LEADER: Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
ALL: Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
LEADER: Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
ALL: Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
LEADER: Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands.
ALL: Prosper for us the work of our hands.
LEADER: We work to provide for what we need. Jesus teaches us to pray and trust that God’s work is to provide what we truly need.
READER: A reading from Luke 11:2-4, 9-13
I tell you, keep asking and you’ll receive; keep looking and you’ll find; keep knocking and the door will be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks, is admitted. What parents among you will give a snake to their child when the child asks for a fish, or a scorpion when the child asks for an egg? If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will our heavenly Abba give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?
LEADER: As partners with God who share God’s work in and for our world, let us pray that God will bless all workers who better the world through their labor.
ALL: Bless their lives and the work of their hands.
LEADER: That the work of the human community, whether in homes or factories, in service or scientific professions, in roles of leadership or in roles of directly caring for others, may bring God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
ALL: Bless their lives and the work of their hands.
LEADER: That God will bless those who seek work but cannot find it, who are homeless or unable to work, who have no way to obtain daily bread by their own efforts; and that those who have enough share the fruits of their labor with their sisters and brothers in need.
ALL: Bless their lives and the work of their hands.
LEADER: That God will bless all those whose lives are put at risk by their labor and those who serve their brothers and sisters through the night hours.
ALL: Bless their lives and the work of their hands.
LEADER: Let us pray with thanks for being the work of God’s hands.
ALL: With thanks for the work we have been given to do, we ask that all who do work begin in God’s inspiration, continue in God’s care, and end in God’s love. Amen.
from Blessing Rites for Christian Lives by Shawn Madigan, CSJ.
