A personal prayer rite

Begin your time of prayer with Psalm 51

Open my lips, O Lord,
   and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
   and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again
   and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit: 
   as it was in the beginning, is now,
   and will be for ever. Amen.

Offer a prayer of self dedication:

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reading:
Select a passage from scripture, “Forward Day by Day” or other daily reader, or a Lenten book. Focus on what you’re reading, rather than the quantity of material.

Close with the General Thanksgiving (adapted for individual use) or your own prayer of thanks:

Accept, O Lord, my thanks and praise for all that you have done. Thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

Thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds me on every side.

Thank you for setting me at tasks which demand my best efforts, and for leading me to accomplishments which satisfy and delight me.

Thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead me to acknowledge my dependence on you alone.

Above all, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant me the gift of your Spirit, that I may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.