Tag: covenant

Morning Prayer: 29 July – Psalm 134:1; Isaiah 49:8-9; John 2:5 – on serving God

Morning Prayer

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

Opening sentences

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.

Pilgrimage

Nave of Clonfert Cathedral
Nave of Clonfert Cathedral

Psalm 134:1

Oh, praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, you who serve at night in the house of the Lord.

Isaiah 49:8-9

This is what the Lord says:

“At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again. I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare….”

John 2:5

But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Reflection

CLONFERT

The oratory at the ‘Emmanuel House of Providence.’
The oratory at the ‘Emmanuel House of Providence.’

Nearby the ancient Clonfert Cathedral, old farm-buildings have been rebuilt and new buildings have been erected to serve the needs of Emmanuel House of Providence. In the land where Brendan walked and prayed, the work of prayer and evangelizing goes on today. The bell above the main house, and the beautiful circular oratory, are what draw your attention. The laughter of the children and their running feet on the gravel. A car arrives with a middle-aged couple who walk to the silent oratory, writing the name of a troubled friend in the book of prayer-intentions. A whole camp for young people or for families, a school retreat or prayer-meeting. A cross of reconciliation.

I asked Ken Wise to put into words what his visit to Clonfert had been like:

When you walked through the gates you knew you had come to a different place, a very godly place. It’s not just friendliness, there’s a presence there. We went not knowing what to expect. It seemed to be that God’s presence was all round the place. I admit I was apprehensive, but when we got there it was totally different.

_____

How wonderful it is to walk with God
along the road that holy men have trod.
How wonderful to hear Him say:
Fear not, have faith
’tis I who lead the way.
(Theodore H. Kitching)
__________


__________

Canticle:

Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.

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

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: The general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) Our Scripture readings and reflections will be taken from the Aidan Daily Readings (Celtic Daily Prayer) during the month of July. On Sundays, we’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world. Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 78:3-8; Isaiah 62:1; Romans 11:26-29 ~ legacy of promise

Morning Prayer

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

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 78:3-8 NLT:

Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand. Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915.
Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand. Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915.

… stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.

For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them — even the children not yet born — and they in turn will teach their own children.

So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors — stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God.

Isaiah 62:1 NLT:

Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

Romans 11:26-29 NLT:

And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,

“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”

Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.

Reflection/Prayer:

The atmosphere of the New Testament carried on the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures pervasively and profoundly – but Rabbinic Judaism replaces revelation with human reason, and this development was well underway even before the coming of Jesus, and culminated in the rejection of Him and the witness of His Jewish apostles by the first-century Pharisees who added the prayer of condemnation against Jewish believers and Jesus to synagogue liturgy. This all took place long before the Church had become infiltrated by paganism and begun to reject its Jewish roots.

Sometimes in John’s Gospel and other places we are confused by the phrase ‘the Jews’ being used to condemn the religious establishment, Pharisees, Sadducees and religious leaders: were not John and the other writers also Jews? Americans abroad are called ‘Yanks’, but in the Southern United States ‘Yankee’ is used as a sectional term to refer to the North. Galilean Jews referred to Judeans as ‘the Jews’ since ‘Judean’ and ‘Jew’ in Greek are the same word.

Such condemnations were after all in-house criticisms and not intended as ammunition for generations of Anti-Semites.

Anti-Semites never quote any of the following:

  • John 4:22 ‘Salvation is of the Jews’,
  • that Jesus was, is and forever will be a Jew descended from Jacob!
  • that ‘the common people (Jews) heard Him gladly,’
  • that many wept openly at His death and
  • that the priestly establishment feared all of Jerusalem following Him (Luke 20:19; 22:2)
  • that myriads of Jews did follow Him (Acts 21:20)
  • that Jewish apostles spread the good news of Yeshua throughout the world.

The proper scriptural response is gratitude and love. Paul says, “It is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.’ (Romans 11:18)

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

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

Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.