Lord, you know better than I do that I am growing old.
Protect me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something about everything and on every occasion.
Free me from the obsessive desire to set other people's affairs in order!
Make me thoughtful, but not bitter, helpful and not domineering.
Keep me from rattling on endlessly—give me wings to reach the point.
Seal my lips about my aches and pains, even though they multiply and grow sweeter to count with each passing year…
I do not dare ask you for a better memory, but I ask for ever-deeper humility and less arrogance when my memory clashes with someone else's.
Teach me the hard lesson that I might be wrong.
Make me able to see the good where I did not expect it and to recognize the gifts in people where they are not obvious.
And grant me the grace to tell them so.
Amen.