Author: Art Chartier

Morning Prayer: Tue, 31 Jan – Psalm 138:6-8; Jeremiah 32:40-41; Hebrews 11:1-3 ~ faith in God’s faithfulness

Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Sentence

Teach me again, Lord, to number my days.

Call out in me again a willingness to love and serve.
__________

Reading: Psalm 138:6-8 (NLT)

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies. You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.

The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
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Reading: Jeremiah 32:40-41 (NLT)

faith-1

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.
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Reading: Hebrews 11:1-3 (NLT)

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.

By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
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Prayer:

Lord God, I believe: strengthen me in faith.

+ Lord, let my faith be full and unreserved, and let it penetrate my thought, my way of judging all things.

+ Lord, let my faith be joyful and give peace and gladness to my spirit; dispose it for prayer with You and conversation with others.

+ Lord, let my faith be radiant, so that it may shine forth in sacred and secular conversation.

+ Lord, let my faith be humble and not presume to be based on the experience of my thought and of my feeling.

+ Lord, let my faith be guaranteed by the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Your Word.

Through Jesus Christ, Your Son and my sure foundation, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

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“Firm Foundation” – The Acappella Company


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Blessing

May I embody Your ready kindness in these days, for things will not be as they were before.

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Watch “What’s Holding the Arab World Back?” ~ PragerU

20170130_075946Jan 30, 2017 Presented by BRET STEPHENS

What’s holding the Arab world back? Why, by nearly every measure, are Muslim nations so far behind the West economically, culturally and scientifically? Bret Stephens, Global View columnist for the Wall Street Journal, explains. Continue reading “Watch “What’s Holding the Arab World Back?” ~ PragerU” →

Morning Prayer: Mon, 30 Jan – Psalm 34:2, 22; Joel 3:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ~ weak, but not afraid

Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Ope6ning Sentence

Teach me again, Lord, to number my days.

Call out in me again a willingness to love and serve.
__________

Reading: Psalm 34:2, 22 (NLT)

I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.
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The Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
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Reading: Joel 3:10 (NLT)

Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors.
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strength-in-weakness

Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT)

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
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Prayer for Strength in Weakness: – St. Ephrem of Syria (306-373 AD)

Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings, You have power over life and death. You know what is secret and hidden, and neither our thoughts nor our feelings are concealed from You. Cure me of duplicity; I have done evil before You. Now my life declines from day to day and my sins increase.

O Lord, God of souls and bodies, You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh. Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord, and sustain me in my misery. Give me a grateful soul that I may never cease to recall Your benefits, O Lord most bountiful. Be not mindful of my many sins, but forgive me all my misdeeds.

O Lord, disdain not my prayer – the prayer of a wretched sinner; sustain me with Your grace until the end, that it may protect me as in the past. It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom; blessed are they who follow her ways, for they shall receive the crown of glory.

In spite of my unworthiness, I praise You and I glorify You, O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit. You have been my help and my protection. May the name of Your majesty be praised forever. To you, our God, be glory.

Amen.

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“Don’t Be Afraid” – The Acappella Company


__________

Blessing

May I embody Your ready kindness in these days, for things will not be as they were before.

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 29 Jan: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13; Ps 146:6-10; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12 ~ the blessed life

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Beatitudes, Jesus describes the kind of people who are blessed in God’s eyes. May we be counted among them.

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening Prayer:

O God, write on our hearts the wisdom of the gospel, so that we may hunger and thirst for holiness, work tirelessly for peace, and be counted among those who seek first your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Continue reading “Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 29 Jan: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13; Ps 146:6-10; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Mt 5:1-12 ~ the blessed life” →

Morning Prayer: Sat, 28 Jan – Psalm 27:4, 7-8; Hosea 10:12; Philippians 4:9 ~ held by the arms of love

Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Sentence

Create a clean heart within me, O God,
so that it may become Your chosen shelter
and the resting place of the Holy Spirit.
__________

Reading: Psalm 27:4, 7-8 (NLT)

baby-held-in-hands

The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.
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Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me!

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
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Reading: Hosea 10:12 (NLT)

I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’
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Reading: Philippians 4:9 (NLT)

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
__________ Continue reading “Morning Prayer: Sat, 28 Jan – Psalm 27:4, 7-8; Hosea 10:12; Philippians 4:9 ~ held by the arms of love” →