Morning Prayer: Tue, 14 Feb – Psalm 56:12-13; Ecclesiastes 4:12; 1 Corinthians 1:8 ~ companions on the way

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

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

Opening Sentence

I have come to seek You, O God, just as I am I come.

I will wait for You, O God. My soul waits, and in Your word do I hope.
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Reading: Psalm 56:12-13 (NLT)

I will fulfill my vows to you, O God, and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help. For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.
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Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)

marine-wedding-prayer

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
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Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:8 (NLT)

He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
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Prayer: (Adapted from Dr. Louis H. Evans’ Marriage Prayer for Bride and Groom.)

Father in Heaven, thank You for our marriage and our commitment to be one in You. We pray that the future we build together may become even stronger because of our solid foundation in Jesus Christ.

+ Prayer for Husband: Bless this husband as provider and protector. Sustain him in all the pressures that come with the task of stewarding a family. May he so live that his wife may find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.

+ Prayer for Wife: Bless this wife. Give her a tenderness that makes her great, a deep sense of understanding, and a strong faith in You. Give her that inner beauty of a soul that never fades, that eternal youth that is found in holding fast to the things that never age. May she so live that her husband may be pleased to reverence her in the shrine of his heart.

May we travel together as friends and lovers, brother and sister, husband and wife, father and mother, and as servants of Christ until He shall return or until that day when one shall lay the other into the arms of God. This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Great Lover of our souls. Amen.
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“Could I Have This Dance” – Anne Murray


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Blessing

  • When you no longer know how to be, may the Father take you on your deeper journey.
  • When you no longer know what to do, may the Spirit reveal to you your fitting task.
  • When all feels lost or foreign, may you know your home in Christ.

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

Morning Prayer: 17 Feb – Gn 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 ; Mk 8:14-21 ~ but Noah found favor with God

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

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

Opening sentence and prayer:

O God, come to our aid. O Lord, make haste to help us.
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Lord Jesus, as this day begins we remember that You are risen, and therefore we look to the future with confidence. This morning, take to yourself our cares, our hopes, and our needs – and lead us to the truth. Deepen in us our love for You today, so that in all things we may find our good, and the good of others. Lord Jesus, we pray that through our own troubles, we may learn to feel the sufferings of others; help us to show them Your compassion – and lead us to the truth.
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A Reading from the Old Testamet: Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10 (NLT)

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing — all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord.

eye of God weeping
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When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. Take with you seven pairs — male and female — of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others. Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood. Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.
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After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.
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Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him and we will come to him. (John 14:23)
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A Reading from the Gospels: Mark 8:14-21 (NLT)

But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.”

brdoflifegraphic

At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes — can’t you see? You have ears — can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?”

“Twelve,” they said.

“And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?”

“Seven,” they said.

“Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them.
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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 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 the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen