When we stray away from God, the best thing to do is center ourselves on him.As humans, we inevitably make mistakes and stray away from God. The word “sin” means to “miss the mark,” and it doesn’t take much for us to do exactly that.
However, God, in his infinite mercy, is ready to take us back. While we might wander aimlessly for years, God is always ready to bring us back into the fold.
Here is a short and beautiful prayer by St. John Eudes that includes a request for forgiveness and a desire to “center” our lives on God, making him the goal of everything that we say or do.
O Lord, You have created me for Yourself, to love You and to enjoy You, infinite Good, ineffable Beauty; do not permit me to lose sight of this sublime end toward which I must tend; do not permit me to wander among the wretched satisfactions that vain, feeble creatures can offer me.
O my Lord, what poor use I have made of creatures! Pardon me, O Lord! Henceforth I do not want to use anything unless it is for Your glory and according to Your holy will, as Your Son Jesus did. O my God, if in the past I have turned aside from You who are my Beginning, my End, and my supreme good; if I have turned toward myself and creatures, preferring their will and mine to Yours, I here and now promise to renounce, entirely and forever the world and myself, and to give myself wholly and forever to You. O my God, I give myself to You as my Beginning; take complete possession of me. May I always abide in You! Be the beginning and end of all my actions. O my God, I give myself to You as my End, my Center, my supreme Good. Draw me to You! Make me tend continually toward You. Be my delight, my glory, my treasure, my all!
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