12.31.08
A Prayer of Accepted Tenderness
Today, o lord, I accept your acceptance of me.
I confess that you are always with me and always for me.
I receive into my spirit your grace, your mercy, your care.
I rest in your love, O lord. I rest in your love.
Amen
- Richard Foster
12.30.08
Station 13
The body of Jesus is removed from the public gaze. The crowds disperse. Their jeers die down. The body is being prepared for burial by his mother and the faithful women who followed him. We pray for the clergy, undertakers and care-givers and those who tend the dying and the dead as well as for the bereaved and for those people who are mourning and grieving.
Father of all, you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to take upon himself the form of a servant and to be obedient, even to death on a cross: give us the same mind that was in Christ Jesus that sharing in his humility we may come to be with him in his glory; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us all.
12.29.08
I Surrender All to Your Divine Will
Take, Lord, all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding,
And my whole will.
You have given me all that I have,
All that I am,
And I surrender all to your divine will.
You have given me all that I have,
All that I am,
And I surrender to your divine will.
Give me only your love and grace.
With this I am rich enough,
And I have no more to ask.
Amen.
- Ignatius of Loyola
12.26.08
Litany for the Christ Candle
Lighting the Christ Candle
(Based on Psalm 98 & Luke 2:11a)
Sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things;
God’s right hand and holy arm have worked salvation.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
The Lord has made salvation known and revealed righteousness to the nations.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
God has remembered his love and faithfulness to the people; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for God comes to judge the earth. The Lord will judge the world with righteousness and the people with equity.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
We have now light the four outside candles of the Advent Wreath. The first candle reminds us of hope. The second candle is the candle of peace. The third candle represents our joy. The fourth candle is for love, our love of God, and God’s love for us. We now light the center candle, the Christ candle. Jesus Christ is our HOPE. Jesus Christ gives us PEACE. We can have JOY because Jesus has come to us. Jesus is God’s greatest gift of LOVE. And because of God’s loving gift of Jesus Christ, we have life now and forever.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
Loving God, we are thankful that the waiting of Advent is over. We rejoice that today in the city of David a Savior is born. We rejoice that our hope is fulfilled, and God’s peace has come to earth. We rejoice that we can fully know God’s love in Jesus Christ. Help us to celebrate today and always that a Savior has been born to us. Amen.
Taken from: Readings for Advent and Christmas
By Charles Wiessner
http://images.rca.org/docs/discipleship/advent-readings.pdf
12.24.08
Late Have I Loved You
Late have I loved you,
O beauty so ancient and so new.
Late have I loved you!
You were within me while I have gone outside to seek you.
Unlovely myself, I rushed toward all those lovely things you had made.
And always you were with me, and I was not with you.
All these beauties kept me far from you – although they would not have existed at all unless they had their being in you.
You called,
You cried,
You shattered my defenses.
You sparkled,
You blazed,
You drove away my blindness.
You shed your fragrance, and I drew my breath, and I pant for you. I tasted and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and now I burst with longing for your peace.
-Augustine of Hippo
12.23.08
Station 12
After three hours of excruciating pain Jesus declares that what he came to do through the cross has now been accomplished. By his death he does what the Letter to the Hebrews calls “entering the greater and more perfect tabernacle” with his own blood, and thus becomes the mediator of the covenant. As we stand alongside the mother of Jesus beneath the cross, let us remember that we are members of Christ’s family. Pray for those who fear death, that they may be encouraged and strengthened by the death of Jesus.
Almighty Father, hear our prayer and look with mercy on this your family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was ready to be betrayed into the hands of sinners and to suffer death on the cross; who is alive, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and for ever. Amen.
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us all.
12.22.08
Govern Everything by your Wisdom
Govern everything by your wisdom, o Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you
In the way you will
And not as I choose.
Let me die to myself so that I may serve you;
Let me live as to you who are life itself.
Amen.
-Teresa of Avila
12.19.08
Mary’s Song
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Luke 1:46-55
12.17.08
I have only today
My life is an instant,
An hour which passes by;
My life is a moment
Which I have no power to stay.
You know, o my God,
That to love you here on earth-
I have only today.
Therese of Lisieux
12.16.08
Station 11
By stretching out his arms on the cross as he was being nailed to it, Jesus offers himself as a total sacrifice for our salvation. The prophet Isaiah said of the suffering servant, “He is a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” But, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.” We pray for those who are in pain, particularly those people who are being tortured, those who are bedridden and those who are terminally ill.
Lord God, you sent your only Son to redeem the world by his obedience even to death on the cross. Grant that the continual memory of his bitter cross and passion may teach us so to crucify the lusts of our flesh that dying to sin and living to you we may die with him and rise again with him and live with him for ever. Amen.
Holy God
Holy and strong
Holy and immortal
Have mercy on us all.
