The Lenten Prayer

Tags

Desert wisdom, Lent, photography

Misty morning at Skidaway Island State Park.

Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance, suppresses anger, restrains pride and envy, draws down the Holy Spirit in to the soul and raises man to heaven.

~~St. Ephrem the Syrian

THE LENTEN PRAYER

O Lord and Master of my life
take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power
and idle talk.
But give rather,
the spirit of chastity,
humility, patience and love to thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother;
for Thou art blessed unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306 – 373) was a deacon, prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially among Syriac Christians as a saint. Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems and homilies in verse, as well as prose biblical commentaries. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphous works in his name. Ephrem’s works witness to an early, vibrant expression of Christian faith, little touched by the European modes of thought, and more engaged with eastern methods of discourse.

Noli Pater Indulgere

Tags

Poetry, Prayer, Saint Columba

Father, keep under the tempest and thunder,
Lest we should be shattered by Thy lightning’s shaft scattered.
Thy terrors while hearing, we listen still fearing,
The resonant song of the bright angel throng.
As they wander and praise Thee, shouts of honour still raise Thee.
To the King ruling right, Jesus, lover and light.

~~Saint Columba

Eternal Worlds

Tags

Butterfly, photography, Poetry, William Blake

Monarch butterfly in Valle de Anton, Panama

Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish’d at me,
Yet they forgive my wanderings. I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me: be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand, which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of ages.

~~William Blake, Jerusalem

The Nativity of our Lord

Tags

Christmas, Collect, Prayer

Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be
born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate,
and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily
be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our
Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee
and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end.
Amen.

Winter Feast for the Soul

Yes, I know this is a Sunday blog, but the Third Order, Society of Saint Francis brought something to my attention which seemed too good not to share–Winter Feast for the Soul.

According to the website:

The Winter Feast for the Soul event takes place every January 15th – February 23rd, and unites people in their commitment to a 40 day practice of stillness. The commitment to 40 minutes of practice each day for the 40-day period of the Feast allows people to have a life changing experience of the importance and impact of stillness. We embrace all forms of practice that bring an individual to a period of stillness in their daily life.

Please mark your calendar for January 15 and join us! 2014 marks the seventh year of the Winter Feast for the Soul, and we have an outstanding faculty of teachers who are already preparing. Winter Feast is free to all, and is expanding globally each year. Whether it is summer or winter where you are in January, we hope you will join us. Click here to receive more information.

Additionally, the site notes that the 40 minutes of practice can include:

• Meditation
• Prayer
• Yoga
• Martial arts
• Journaling
• Expressive arts
• Daily acts of kindness toward self and others

And for those of us who observe Lent, this is a wonderful introduction into carrying that practice forward once Lent begins on March 5.

Silence

Prayer is not

scrabbling together

a few paltry words,

flinging them like stones

at the windows

of ineffability.

It is Gelassenheit,

letting go,

being carried on a current

toward a vast ocean,

deep beyond imagining;

sitting silently,

gaze firmly fixed

on one golden,

inscrutable face,

waiting

with the patience of love;

pouring out life,

that alabaster vial

of costly ointment,

at the feet of One

Who washes others

with His tears.

Prayer is

asking nothing,

desiring nothing

but this,

only this.

~~Bonnie Thurston