Until Respondent Voices Rend the Air
Son of the All-highest, bringer of salvation to the human race, you to whom your Begetter has committed all the powers of his Fatherhood, keeping none back in envy, but giving freely, open a way for my prayers and safely convey them to your Father's ears.
Grant me a heart, O Father, to hold out against all deeds of wrong, and deliver me from the serpent's deadly venom, sin....
Prepare a road that I, being freed from the fetters of this frail body, may be led up on high, where in the clear heaven the Milky Way stretches above the wandering clouds of the wind-vexed moon--that road by which the holy men of old departed from the earth; by which Elias, being caught up in the chariot, once made his ways alive above our lower air; and Enoch, too, who went before his end without change of body.
Grant me, O Father, the effluence of everlasting light for which I yearn, and bring to your altar the offering of a stainless life.
Grant me your pardon, Father, and relieve my anguished breast...and when the hour of my last day shall come, grant that the conscience of a life well spent cause me not to fear death, nor yet long for it. When, through your mercy, I appear cleansed from my secret faults, let me despise all else, and let my one delight be to await in hope your judgment. And if that day delays, keep me far from that fierce tempter, the serpent, with his false allurements.
Claim these prayers as your own before the eternal Father, Son of God to whom I pray, Savior, God and Lord, Mind, Glory, Word and Son, very God of very God, Light of Light, who remains with the eternal Father, reigning throughout all ages, whose praise the harmonious songs of tuneful David echo forth, until respondent voices rend the air with "Amen."
(a prayer by Ausonius, shortened and updated slightly)
Radiancy
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.
Visit now this soul of mine,
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy divine,
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Yourself display,
Shining to the perfect day.
(from a hymn by Charles Wesley; photo via everystockphoto.com)
Respectful
Saturday Psalm #150
I praise you
for the capacity to praise you.
I praise you
that I can praise you in song,
and for the privilege of praising you
in harmony with others who praise you.
I praise you
under your great blue blanket of sky;
I praise you for your mighty acts
and your magnificent greatness.
I praise you with joyful laughter
and with quiet weeping.
I praise you with dance,
and I praise you by kneeling.
I praise you loudly
and I praise you softly.
I will praise you facedown
and I praise you with a fist pump!
I praise you with all that I have,
and all I am;
let every living thing join in!
Amen.
To Walk in the Day
Grant, Lord, that I may walk in the day,
and not stumble,
because I see the Light of this world (John 11:9),
in Jesus' name, amen.
(photo by Nordseher via pixabay.com)
Enter and Enlarge
My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things?
(a prayer of St. Augustine of Hippo, from his Confessions, Book 5.1; photo via pixabay.com)
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