A prayer for a heart that knows how to love

Master of the World, give me a heart that knows how to love. I love my family, and You know it, but I do not always know how to show it. The words get stuck, the hug is cut short, and I leave the love inside, as though they were supposed to guess.

Help me say what I feel in time, and not only in moments of parting or of crisis. Let me notice what makes each of them feel loved: a word, time together, quiet help, and give each one exactly that.

Let me not wait for a special occasion. A kind word in the morning, a short message in the middle of the day, a hand on the shoulder: these are the moments in which love is built.

There are places in me that closed after old hurts. I learned to keep my distance so as not to be hurt again. Soften them. Let me dare to be open, even at the cost of pain.

And let me also receive love. Not to brush off a compliment, not to be suspicious of goodness, not to think I am unworthy of it. Let me believe that whoever truly loves me sees something in me.

And let the love in our home overflow outward: to the neighbors, to whoever is in need, to every person we meet.

And let my love be simple and true, without keeping accounts. Let me know how to love even when it is hard, even when nothing comes back, because love that is given enlarges the heart.