Gracious God, we come to you at the beginning of this academic year
with our many feelings, expectations, fears and hopes.
Help us to remember, however, we have the comforting
assurance from you: "I will always be with you."

Loving God, for all of us this is a time of transition. It is transition
from the work and leisure of summer back to the classroom.
It is transition from time spent with family and friends.
Give us patience with ourselves as we transition as well as
patience with one another.

Faithful God, this beginning is totally new for some among us.
Turn the sadness of leaving families to openness to new friends
and opportunities. Turn the anxiety about academics to a quiet confidence in the way
you have blessed us in the past.
Give us a new perspective to see persons, events, and academic work as an
invitation to develop the many gifts you have given us to be used in service for others.

Creator God, some in our community are moving into their last year at Marquette.
Bless them with your gifts of awe and wonder at the friends they have made,
the way their minds and hearts have been changed, and the many opportunities
that lie ahead. Give them the gift of discernment to make the right choices about the future.

Finally, God, give to each member of the Marquette Community the seven
gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge,
reverence, and awe and wonder.

Amen.