A prayer on Shabbat eve

Master of the World, Shabbat is approaching, and I am still in the middle of everything. The kitchen, the shopping, the cleaning, the last messages from work. The clock is running toward candle lighting, and with it the pressure at home.

Let us prepare for Shabbat without quarreling. Let it not be Friday's tension that welcomes it. Let me help and not only criticize, give up on what there will be no time for, and remember that Shabbat is more important than any detail of the preparations.

And let me truly stop. When the moment comes, to close the computer, put down the phone, leave behind what the week did not finish. I do not want to bring the bills and the worries with me to the table.

And if the week was hard, if there is tension that was not resolved or a child who has grown distant, let Shabbat be the chance to draw close: to sit together without screens, to listen, to bless the children and mean every word.

Let this Shabbat enter our home. Let there be peace and joy in it, good conversation around the table, songs, rest of body and of soul. And let me meet You in it, not only as a custom but as a rest I truly need.

And let me remember also the one for whom Shabbat is hard, the one who eats alone, and invite him.

And let Shabbat light up the whole coming week. Let its quiet and joy stay with us on Sunday too, and remind us what truly matters.