Prayers Ancient and Modern 11/25

“A Christian woman’s true freedom lies on the other side of a very small gate—humble obedience—but that gate leads out into a largeness of life undreamed of by the liberators of the world, to a place where the God-given differentiation between the sexes is not obfuscated but celebrated, where our inequalities are seen as essential to the image of God, for it is in male and female, in male as male and female as female, not as two identical and interchangeable halves, that the image is manifested.” – Elisabeth Elliot

Published November 25, 2016 |

Bless and sanctify my soul with Thy heavenly blessings, that it may become Thy holy habitation, and let nothing be found in this temple of Thy Divinity, which shall offend the eyes of Thy Majesty. According to the greatness of Thy goodness and multitude of Thy mercies, look upon me, and hear the prayer of Thy poor servant. Protect and keep my soul, amidst so many dangers of this life, and, by Thy grace accompanying me, direct it along the way of peace, to its home of everlasting brightness—Amen.

Thomas à Kempis

O God, who tallest the number of the stars, and callest them all by their names; heal, we beseech Thee, the contrite in heart, and gather together the outcasts, and enrich us with the fullness of Thy wisdom; through Christ our Lord—Amen.

Sarum Breviary, A.D. 1085.