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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.

The Morning “Lorica” (Prayer) of Saint Patrick

I  arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today through the strength of Heaven
the rays of the sun,
the radiance of the moon,
the splendor of fire,
the speed of lightening,
the swiftness of the wind,
the depth of the sea,
the stability of the earth
the firmness of rock.

I arise today through the power of God:
God’s might to comfort me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to lead me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s Heavenly Host to save me
from the snares of the devil,
from temptations to sin,
from all who wish me ill,
from near and afar,
alone and with others.

May Christ shield me today
against poison and fire,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may fulfill my mission
and bear fruit in abundance.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ behind and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my right and on my left,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Dedication

Walk with me, dear Lord, so that I may not be alone as I face this day, but always in your presence. Your joy is a lighthouse in a world often dark with sin, and I pray that I may reflect the light of your truth, to inspire others as I have been inspired. In the name of Christ, bless me this day, and all whom I may meet.

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.

Proverbs 14:5

Genesis 1:26-31

The Creation of the World [4] - Man

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Notes on the Scripture

e discussed the often very-heated debate over evolution vs. creationism a few days ago. God is the master of time, not its servant as we are. If He wanted to call the period during which he created man a “day”, it does not necessarily mean 24 hours as we perceive it. Nor does today's passage tell us precisely how He created us. Evidence of evolution might (or might not) be evidence God left for us about how He accomplished his creation, for neither time nor the method of God's creation has any importance in spiritual terms. The theory of evolution might be right or wrong; it makes no difference.

What is important is the phrase, “Let us make man in our image”. First, God caused us to exist. We are not an accident. An evolutionist might claim this, but here, he is not being a scientist, but just another atheist stating an unproven opinion. The evolution of species occurred because it was God's will that it occur, and He knew that mankind would result from it.

Second, we are like God. We were made in his image. But how? We do not have infinite power or knowledge. We do, however, have two attributes that no other creature on earth has: self-consciousness and spirit. We know we exist, and even more important, we know that we have existence outside the realm of what we can see; and if we have been baptized, God's spirit lives within us. And we know that our spirit will survive the death of our body.

The Bible does not say that this is what Genesis means by the term “after our likeness”, but we infer it, because these are attributes we know we have that no other life form shares.

The passage is full of other information. First, both men and women are made equally in the likeness of God. The term “man” in Genesis refers to men and women collectively, just as it has traditionally been used in English. There is some differentiation between the genders in the Bible, just as there is in life, but at the most basic level of holiness, gender is meaningless. God created us in his image, and made us male and female.

Secondly, it is interesting that He made us vegetarians initially. Adam and Eve ate no meat. This changes only after the great flood, when God tells Noah, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.” (Genesis 9:1-4)

Adam and Eve

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