“O omnipotent God, Creator of heaven and earth, forgive the poverty, the meanness, the naïveté of our hearts. Listen not to our voices but to our inarticulate cries; attend not to our desires but to the clamor of our needs. How many times do we ask for something that could never be ours! O God! We thank you for this world, our great home, its size and wealth the multifarious life of the world which we are a part. We praise you for the splendor of the blue skies and for the evening breeze and for the clouds and for the stars in the heavens. We praise you, Lord, for the immense oceans, for the water that runs in the streams, for the eternal hills, for the luxuriant trees, and for the carpet of grass that soothes our feet. God is merciful! We thank you Lord, for the many delights that make us feel in our spirit the beauty of life and love…. O God, the all-merciful! Forgive the poverty, the meanness, the naïveté of our hearts.”