Lord, for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray. Keep me my God from stain of sin, just for today.
Let me both diligently work and duly pray. Let me be kind in word and deed, just for today.
Let me be slow to do my will, prompt to obey; Help Help me to mortify my flesh, just for today.
Let me no wrong or idle word unthinking say. Set thou a seal upon my lips, just for today.
Let me in season Lord, be grave, in season gay, Let me be faithful to thy grace.
And if today my tide of life should ebb away, Give me, sweet Lord, thy sacraments divine.
So for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray, But keep me, guide me, love me Lord, just for today.
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by Sister Mary Xavier 1856 - 1917. Nun. Family name, Partridge, Sibyl
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I used to sing this hymn as a boy soprano and I have returned to it, now that I am in my eighty third year. As a prayer, it is simple, direct, and to the point, and wholly apt in the contentious age in which we live.
Cormac
