Prayer for a blessed year

• My Lord, here we are, in front of you once more, at the beginning of this brand new year. You’ve helped us so far. Help us again and again. Don’t give up on your children, don’t turn your back on them, not even when they turn their back on you, for it is in your arms they will seek comfort in cold, lonely nights. Help us overcome our weaknesses, our fears, our worries, and become stronger in faith, hope and love.
  
  Teach us to be humble and never to forget the good things you’ve done in our lives. Help us become better persons, and show us how to bring your light into this tormented world. Keep us on the right path and guide our steps in accordance with your will.
  
  You know the depth, the length and the width of our souls. You know the peaks and the abysses, the echoes and the tones of our being. You know how far we can go, how much we can achieve, how much we can bear. Help us make the best of what you’ve given us. Help us reach the fullest of our potential for the glory of your Name and for the well-being of our neighbours.
  
  Search our hearts and bring your light into every dark corner of our being. Don’t let any spot of darkness unrevealed, for it will only spread and grow like a disease. Plant good seeds, so that we can bear good fruit. Bless us with your divine love. Where you find a wound, heal it. Where you find pain, soothe it. Where you find fear, turn it into courage. Where you find frustration, turn it into acceptance. Where you find resentment, turn it into forgiveness. Turn our every thought into a silent prayer and our every dream into a garden of blessings. Turn every wrong into right and every disappointment into an inner urge to go on and never give up.
  
  Make this year a better year for all of us. Bless us with countless blessings. Help us be how you want us to be. As pure as a dove, as strong as a lion, as humble as a lamb, as clever as a snake, and use all these gifts to make the world a sunnier place, even if only for one human being. Give us the patience of Job, the devotion of the apostles, the mercy of Jesus, the strength of the saints, the passion of Mary Magdalene, the fire of the first Christians. Open our eyes and ears, so that we can learn from all things, great and small, how wonderful you are. Let us rejoice in the thought that you, our Creator, are with us all the time, and to you we surrender all until the very last day of our lives.
  
  AMEN