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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.

Matins (Morning Prayer)

Word of God, as the Most High, our one hope,
Everlasting light of heaven and earth,
We break the silence of the peaceful night;
Saviour Divine, cast thine eyes upon us!

Pour on us the fire of thy mighty grace,
That all hell may flee at the sound of thy voice;
Banish the slumber of a weary soul,
That brings forgetfulness of thy laws!

O Christ, look with favour upon thy faithful people
Now gathered here to praise thee;
Receive their hymns offered to thy endless glory;
May they go forth filled with thy gifts.

~ “Cantique de Jean Racine”, adapted by MB

Prayer of Penitence

My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In His name, my God, have mercy.

I  delight to do thy will, O my God: thy law is within my heart.

~ Psalm 40:8

Dedication

Let me not forget my prayers as I go out into the world. Holy Spirit, be with me, and let me praise you and remember you in my every action and thought, for the entire day long. In Christ's name I ask this,

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 91:1-2 (NKJV)

Genesis 27:14-20 (ESV)

The Story of Isaac [10] - Jacob and Esau

So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved.

Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.”

But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.”

Notes on the Scripture

he tale of Jacob and Esau often puzzles readers, because of the contradiction between Jacob's righteousness and fraudulence. He is to get the blessing of Isaac, the heir of Abraham, and become the third of this line of three men to whom God has promised so much: the land of Canaan, descendants who will become a great nation (the Hebrews), and most important, special status as the people who will be blessed by God and will be the keepers of his covenant.

But juxtaposed to his unique status — the patriarch of God's holy people — we see Jacob participating in a seedy little fraud to deceive his father. And it is by no means a minor fraud. He seeks to steal from his brother the very position of patriarch, and to defraud his father into naming him his heir, by fooling blind Isaac into mistaking him for Esau.

How can one lie and cheat his way into the position of the patriarch of God's covenant? Although we will never understand God's mind, Jacob gives us the basic answer in this selection: “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” God has not given the Law to the world at this point; Moses will not be born for centuries. There is no commandment to forbid stealing.

Of course, the answer that the Law does not yet exist is not completely satisfactory, because as Paul will tell us in Romans, the Law did not make theft a sin; it only showed the Hebrews that they were sinning. But God's plan works itself out slowly in human terms. He did not snap his fingers and create the Christian church, but worked it out in a slow succession of events.

Isaac Blessing Jacob by Giacchiano Assereto, Italian, c. 1640. Notice the goatskin jacket worn by Jacob and Rebekah holding a finger to her mouth, as if she fears Jacob will blurt out the truth.

Daily Inspiration

“Getting Ready For Company”

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