36 Prayers for Young Ladies

Prayer 26: For a young man who likes me very much

Lord, today I want to pray
for a young man.
You know well whom I mean,
for it was You who put him
in my path.

The day I met him
I thought to myself
that this was Your own doing,
so I came to You many times
to tell You about the way
he looked at me,
the way he smiled
and talked to me.

I did this as if You were to blame
that I had fallen in love,
that I had indulged
in dreams and wishful thinking.
How many times have I asked You,
like a little girl with a crush,
"I like him, I want him for myself."
And foolishly I thought
only of myself,
without considering his side,
because all I wanted was
to have him for myself.

Forgive me, Lord,
for being so blind to Your love
and being so crazy about him.

Maybe I did him harm
by my flightiness,
    my self-centredness,
    my thoughtlessness.

While he needed something else:
    a faithful friend,
    a sincere companion,
    a generous and understanding heart,
I offered him instead
loneliness, emptiness, and coldness,
because I was so full
of myself.

But today, Lord,
I have come to pray for him,
    as if I had just met him,
    as if I had always known
how to love.

I pray that You may protect him
from the dangers of money and pleasure,
    of selfishness and shallowness,
    of a lack of commitment.

Lord,
make him pure in his actions
and candid in his glances.
Give him a strong heart
that is free to choose the truth
with the liberty of Your sons!

Teach him to despise mere status symbols,
an easy life and servile conformity,
indifference to others' needs
and a mediocre life.

Teach him to be
a sign of contradiction
that is bent on building
a new world.

And if You think I can be of help,
then let Your will be done.
--Hector C. Munoz, OP