Daily Prayers Monday, 31 October 2022
TIT FOR TAT
by Christopher Morley
I often pass a gracious tree
Whose name I can’t identify,
But still I bow, in courtesy
It waves a bough, in kind reply.
I do not know your name, O tree
(Are you a hemlock or a pine?)
But why should that embarrass me?
Quite probably you don’t know mine.
Welcome to Prayers for the Day.
We light a candle…
Lord, may this candle be a light for you to enlighten me in my decisions,
And may it be a fire for you to purify me from all pride and selfishness.
May it be a flame for you to build warmth into my heart towards my family,
my neighbours and all those who meet me. In leaving this candle, I wish to give you something of myself. Help me to continue this prayer into everything I do this day.
Amen.
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
Amen.
Presence
I reflect for a moment on God’s presence around me and in me.
Creator of the universe, the sun and the moon, the earth,
every molecule, every atom, everything that is:
God is in every beat of my heart. God is with me, now.
Freedom
Lord, may I never take the gift of freedom for granted.
You gave me the great blessing of freedom of spirit.
Fill my spirit with Your peace and Your joy.
Consciousness
Knowing that God loves me unconditionally,
I can afford to be honest about how I am.
How has the last day been, and how do I feel now?
I share my feelings openly with the Lord.
THE WORD OF GOD
Luke 14:12-14
Jesus said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
WORDS OF WISDOM
The natural, the wildness and freedom of nature, transforms many people. All their lives, they long to return, as if nothing else is real in comparison. Are they perhaps right? The Franciscan tradition has always seen all creation as the footprints and fingerprints of God and therefore sacramental. This is true of many native spiritualities and Christian creation spirituality too. It is much needed today if we are to rediscover the integrity of creation and prevent its wholesale destruction through climate change. Anything that is old, ancestral, or traditional ties us up with the timeless and the eternal. Listen to people’s voices as they enter old ruins or uncover a piece of family history. They sigh. The truly beautiful, the magnificent, the poetic all feel like ends in themselves—enough to satisfy.
Joy and pleasure are surely promises and enticements, free samples that tell us we are on track toward the same. Surely God makes use of all these initial experiences of the holy. Yet philosophically there is no real ground for calling them sacred or holy. They are reflectors of light, but not the source of light itself. This absolute and ultimate God-centeredness, this demand for the true sacred, is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. His new world order rises and falls on this diamond edge, and it seems to be enough if only a few are convinced of it. Merely a “leaven” of true believers in the true sacred is all that is needed to raise the whole loaf (see Matthew 13:33).
by Richard Rohr, OFM
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord our God, we thank you that we may come to you and that our spirits can reach out for your help and your comfort. May we draw strength from communion with you, our Father. May we realize more fully that we are your children, truly your children, who throughout our pilgrimage are allowed to know you as our refuge and our help. Remember our world, and grant that many hearts awaken and turn to you, looking to you in all the fear and need which sweep over many people in our time. Let your Spirit be revealed to our hearts in quiet, bringing many experiences from you, O Lord our God, and from your kingdom. Protect us every day in the many lands throughout the earth. For the nations are yours; they shall receive life and blessing from you, and at last your kingdom will be revealed in all the world, to the eternal glory of your name.
Amen.
THE BLESSING
May God the provider of green pastures and
quiet waters be the peace in our hearts today
May Jesus our guide on mountain top and valley
deep be the hope in our hearts today
May the Spirit of truth and knowledge
comforter and friend be the strength in our hearts today
Amen
Thank you for join us. Have a wonderful day
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
