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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Prayer of St. Chrysostom

Almighty God, Who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and does promise that when two or three are gathered together in Thy name you will grant their requests; fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of your servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the world to come life everlasting,

Confession

Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, for I am a humble and miserable sinner. [At this point, pause to remember specific sins you have committed during the week and speak or think them.] I renounce all of these sins, heavenly Father, and repent of them, and I promise to make every effort not to repeat them.

Have mercy on me, pardon me for these offences and any I might have omitted from forgetfulness or ignorance; in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, I pray for forgiveness. And I pray that your Holy Spirit may dwell with me today and throughout the coming week, to comfort me, to give me strength against temptation, and to guide me into the path of righteousness.

“The Soul of Christ”

Soul of Christ, be my sanctification,
Body of Christ, be my salvation,
Blood of Christ, fill all my veins;
Water of Christ’s side, wash out my stains;
Passion of Christ, my comfort be;
O good Jesu, listen to me;
In thy wounds I fain would hide,
Ne’er to be parted from thy side;
Guard me, should the foe assail me;
Call me when my life shall fail me,
Bid me come to thee above,
With thy Saints to sing thy love,
World without end.

Anime Christe, 14th century
tr. John Henry Newman, 1878

For Faith

Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my mind. Give me a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that I may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will.

~ (St.) Francis of Assisi (1214)

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Psalm 23 (ESV)

Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV)

The Hardest Obligation of a Christian

ou have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Notes on the Scripture

To my mind, this is the hardest thing Christ commands us to do during our lives. But there is no doubt about what He is saying, because it is repeated time and time again, by Christ Himself, throughout the Gospels. When somebody does something mean or cruel or harmful to us, we are expected to forgive them for it. When our “enemies” do us harm, we must not try to hurt them back. And when somebody we don’t know or who doesn’t like us or who has done terrible things to us in the past is in need, we must help them. We must love them.

All I can say is: Good luck! This is the hardest thing in the world. I probably spend more time praying about this duty than anything else. It just runs contrary to our deepest nature.

Often, our pride is hurt by something somebody has done or said. Perhaps they merely contradicted something we said, or made a comment that seemed critical of us. In these situations, the amount of anger we feel is usually blown way out of proportion to the purported offense. I have certainly been furious about comments that the speaker didn’t even mean to be unflattering -- I just misunderstood them!

In such situations, praying for the person really helps, especially over time if you repeat it again and again. Pray for whatever it is that would make you feel sick for the person to get. Pray that they get a raise at work or become famous, or that they lose weight — something that gets you right in the same part of your brain where the anger is coming from, your sinful pride. You will find that the harder you pray for them to do well, and the harder you pray that you can forgive them, the less and less angry you will become. Even in life, this is a two-edged sword. Harboring resentments, anger, and hatred hurts the person who is angry, often more than the person against whom the anger is directed.

Pilate Washing His Hands, Master of Cappenberg ca. 1520.

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“Worship: Omit the Third Verse”

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