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 Jesus, 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.
Amen.
-St. Ignatius, translated by Cardinal John Henry Newman
-Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
Lord, forgive our self-centeredness
and need for control.
Forgive our complacency and
ready acceptance of the world as it is,
without striving to make it what
you created it to be.
The life you give to us
is not just for us,
but for the world.
May we be your blessing, Lord.
-Amen
-Moravian Book of Prayer
O Lord,
I know not what I should ask of thee.
Thou only knowest what I want;
and Thou lovest me better than I can love myself.
O Lord, give to me, Thy child, what is proper,
whatsoever it may be.
I dare not ask either crosses or comforts.
I only present myself before Thee.
I open my heart to Thee.
Behold my wants, which I am ignorant of;
but do Thou behold and do according to Thy mercy.
Smite or heal! Depress or raise me up.
I adore all Thy purposes without knowing them.
I am silent. I offer myself in sacrifice.
I abandon myself to Thee. I have no more any desire
but to accomplish Thy will.
Lord, teach me how to pray.
Dwell Thou Thyself in me by Thy Holy Spirit.
Amen.
-Fenelon 1651-1715
“God became one of us,
not to erase every shadow or to
undo the difficulties of humanity,
but to be with us in the midst of it,
to transform our spectrum of darkness
by bearing a truer depth of light,
and to enlarge us with the joy of
expectancy until the fullness of time
when every hope has come to pass.”
-Jill Carattini
-Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
Father, I want to know Thee,
but my cowardly heart fears to give up it’s toys.
I cannot part with them without inward bleeding
and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of parting.
I come trebling, but I do come.
Please root from my heart all those things which
I have cherished so long and which have become a very
part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter
and dwell there without a rival.
Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious.
Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it,
for Thyself will be the light of it,
and there will be no night there.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you; wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.
-Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
IF
my attitude be one of fear, not faith,
about one who has disappointed
me;
If I say, “Just what I expected,” if a
fall occurs,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.
-Amy Carmichael, If
Dear Christ,
help me to take the common things of life and make them beautiful.
Help me to do this today. Let me not wait until tomorrow, or next week,
or next summer for my joy; help me to find it today in the common task,
in accustomed places, with the comrades of my home or market place.
But I cannot do it alone. Dear Christ, I cannot do it alone. Stay Thou
near by. Thou alone canst glorify the beautiful drudergy of life. Thou
alone canst turn valleys into mountaintops. In Thy presecne is fullness
of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures morning, noon and night.
Spirit of Jesus, help me to be a good steward of Thy presence all the day.
Amen.
-Ralph Cushman, A Pocket Prayer Book, 1941
peacocks for pilgrims 