Oh God, creator of all we are as
persons - desires, hopes, dreams, longings, bodies - all. Forgive me for the
many ways I reduce myself and my fellow travelers to objects in my hungry quest
for false satisfaction.
Forgive me for the secret fantasies
which turn people into property for my satisfaction. Forgive me for the way
that, in my quest for love I settle so easily for lust - satisfying a deep
thirst with the salty water of ongoing longing. Forgive me the second long look
which turns beauty into a collection parts. Forgive me for the hidden sins of
the mind where elaborately constructed fantasy of relationship prevent me from
investing fully in the gifts you have given in those around me. Forgive me the
continual obsession with unreachable perfection - in myself and in others, a
conforming to the world's ways that surely results in the crushing death of
collapsing possibilities. Forgive me the deceptions and justifications which
allow me to go where I should not go and see what I should not see.
O Lord, please help me to invest in
the hard, self-sacrificing choices of love rather than to take the shortcuts of
lust, which lead me where I don't want to go. Teach me the unspeakable value of
myself and my fellow travelers so I am not tempted to regard myself or them as
anything less than the image of God. Grant me modesty of thought and the
ability to blush without shame at things which ought not be spoken. Give me
courage and strength to turn away.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me, a sinner.
