to trust in myself
and not in you,
O Lord, forgive.
Amen.
(based on a plaque in Coventry Cathedral)
Myself
to trust in myself
and not in you,
O Lord, forgive.
Amen.
(based on a plaque in Coventry Cathedral)
Not Just
Nor for your kindness shown;
Not for the things you've done,
Nor even the victories won;
I love you, Lord,I just love you,
And not just what you do.
Amazed
by the things you do,
the way you time things,
rhyme things,
one with another,
to whisper to me
that I can never be
so unmindful of you
to make you unmindful of me.
Thank you.
Amen.
Actiones Nostras
and help us in them and follow up on them,
so that our every service always flows from You,
and all we begin is brought to conclusion through You.
Amen.
(From the Gregorian Sacramentary; photo via everystockphoto.com)
Prepare a Road
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; photo via everystockphoto.com)
Thou To Whom I Owe the Gift of This Day's Grace
O Thou to whom I owe the gift of this day's grace, give to me also, I beseech Thee, the spirit to use it as I ought. Forbid that I should stain the brightness of the morning with any evil thought or darken the noontide with any shameful deed. Let Thy Holy Spirit breathe into my heart to-day all pure and heavenly desires. Let Thy truth inform my mind. Let Thy justice and righteousness make a throne within me and rule my errant will. Let Christ be formed in me, and let me learn of Him all lowliness of heart, all gentleness of bearing, all modesty of speech, all helpfulness of action, and promptness in the doing of my Father's will. Amen.
(a prayer of John Baillie in A Diary of Private Prayer)
For Summer
Abba, thank you for summer,for green grass
and honeysuckle,
leafy trees
running streams
bare feet
balmy days
singing birds
laughing children
baseball games
cookouts
sunshine
clear skies
the smell after the rain
beauty
and fecundity
everywhere
I turn.
Amen.
A Prayer of Thanks on Father's Day
thank you for being such a good, good father to me:
patient, wise, loving, constant, and strong.
Thank you for my father,
for the many years you gave him on this earth,
for the example he showed me
and the things he taught me.
Thank you for the kind of father
my son and son-in-law are
to my grandchildren:
patient, wise, loving, constant, and strong.
Let this Father's Day be a blessing to you
and to the fathers in my life and family,
in Jesus' name, amen.
Praise for Being Always What You Are
for being the same yesterday,
today,
and forever.
I praise your immutability,
for being always what you are:
loving and compassionate toward all you have made,
merciful and good to all,
just and omnipotent and almighty and lovely.
I praise you.
Amen.
(photo via everystockphoto.com)
Order All My Doings
inspire all my thoughts;
pervade my imagination;
suggest all my decisions;
order all my doings.
Be with me in my silence and in my speech,
in my haste and in my leisure,
in company and in solitude,
in the freshness of the morning and
in the weariness of the evening;
and give me grace at all times humbly to rejoice
in your mysterious companionship,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(a prayer of John Baillie, revised slightly; photo via everystockphoto.com)
Heal
I pray for our current medical system. It seems to require people, often poor and suffering people, to be charged more money than they can possibly pay to recover their health and prolong their lives. I do not know the solution to this, only that the traditional solutions are falling apart. Therefore, I pray that You might act to heal our medical system. Protect and help those who are put in difficult or impossible positions due to it. Work it out so that those who suffer may not suffer twice from the bills involved.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
(from the Daily Prayer Blog; illustration via freeimages.com)
To Love Itself
You
who are love itself,
give me
the grace of love,
give me
yourself,
so that all my days
may finally empty
into the one day
of your eternal life.
(a prayer of Karl Rahner, author of Encounters With Silence)
Thin Place
O God,
make of my heart,
and of my marriage,
and of my family,
and of my home,
and of my church,
a thin place.
Amen.
(Based on an incident related to Evelyn Underhill by a friend who had been to the Isle of Iona and there heard a local gardener say, “Iona is a very thin place.” She asked, “What do you mean?” The gardener, a Scotsman, said, “It's a thin place, because there is not much between Iona and the Lord”)
Waiting for the Fire
In full and glad surrender,
I give myself to Thee,
Thine utterly and only
And evermore to be.
My all is on the altar,
I'm waiting for the fire,
Waiting, waiting, waiting,
I'm waiting for the fire.
(a prayer of Mary Dagworthy James)
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