Prayers Ancient and Modern 3/29

“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 March 29, 2016 |

O Thou Who chastenest whom Thou lovest, grant us grace, we pray Thee, to discern Thy love in whatever suffering Thou sendest us. Support us in patient thankfulness under pain, anxiety, or loss, and move us with pity and tenderness for our afflicted neighbors—Amen.

Christina G. Rossetti

O Lord, let me not henceforth desire health or life, except to spend them for Thee, with Thee, and in Thee. Thou alone know-est what is good for me; do, therefore, what seemeth Thee best. Give to me, or take from me; conform my will to Thine; and grant that, with humble and perfect submission, and in holy confidence, I may receive the orders of Thine eternal Providence; and may equally adore all that comes to me from Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord—Amen.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).