Praying at Home: Thursday after Trinity
Welcome to PrayingAtHome.com
Here you can find some resources for each day to help you stay in touch with the Church and to sustain you on your journey through life.
Opening to the Word
You can spend a few moments in silence,
focussing on your breathing
to become more mindful of the present moment
and to open yourself more fully
to God’s presence within you.
Short scripture passage
‘Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt
and see whether they are still living.’
And Jethro said to Moses,
‘Go in peace.’Vadam et revertar ad fratres meos in AEgyptum,
ut videam si adhuc vivant.
Cui ait Jethro:
Vade in pace.
Exodus 4:18
The Liturgy of the Word *
These are the Scripture readings for today.
If you have time, you can read just one or all of them.
Short Reflection
‘Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt
and see whether they are still living.’
Moses was rightly concerned for his family. He’d had to flee for his life, having killed an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Hebrew.
And Jethro (Moses’ father-in-law) said to Moses,
‘Go in peace.’
There may be some parallels here for us.
Cut off from our families due to the pandemic (and in some places, civil unrest), many of us are worried about them; indeed, some will be frightened for them and for themselves.
We can listen for and hear the words of our Father to live in peace, to be in peace:
peace, more than just an absence of conflict, a state in which all are respected as daughters and sons of God (however we choose to see God, if at all), equal members of the human family.
Today, some people will be celebrating Corpus Christi, the Festival of the Body and Blood of Christ, the gift of Jesus’ self-giving:
When you do this,
do it in memory of me.
“In memory of” is more than just remembering, it is an active “not-forgetting”, a keeping in mind, making present here and now.
So, we spend a few moments today, remembering those who are sorely afflicted by the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, by civil unrest, but also in thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus in which we share, feeding us (though not physically at present).
Truly it is “esca viatorum”, food for the journey.
Laus Deo!
Prayer
Pray for those who are suffering at the present time, including those
in hospital,
for whom lockdown is hugely challenging,
juggling work and childcare,
whose access to the outside world is severely limited,
in prison,
who have no garden.
In these troubled times,
pray with persistence:
for courage,
for those who dare to speak truth to power.
Continue to pray for politicians and leaders,
that they may learn humility, wisdom and integrity.
Pray patiently:
for justice and respect for all people;
for repentance for our own prejudices.
Pray:
for those in intensive care, unable to breathe on their own;
for those who nurse and care for patients with COVID-19;
for everyone working to protect the most vulnerable in society from this disease;
for those who are most at risk from the pandemic, especially those in enclosed environments.
Pray for essential workers.
Pray for us all.
Music for reflection *
Hymn: Eternal Trinity of love
1 Eternal Trinity of love,
In peace and majesty you reign:
All things come forth from you alone;
To you they must return again.
2 Creation lives and breathes in you,
Sustained by your almighty will;
Grant us to know you, God of truth,
In whom the questing mind is still.
3 Our Father, in the name of Christ,
Unceasingly your Spirit send;
Be with us, everlasting God:
Fulfil your purpose to the end.
4 We praise you, Godhead, One in Three,
Immortal Trinity of light,
Unchanging through eternal days
You live unmoved, serene in might.
Words: © 1974 Stanbrook Abbey, Wass, York, YO61 4AY, England
from Hymns for Prayer & Praise
(Canterbury Press, 2011)
The Lord’s Prayer
We can say the Lord’s Prayer in any language or version we choose.
Here it is, in English, Latin and French.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever. Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificatur nomen tuum:
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.
Quia tuum est regnum,
et potestas, et gloria, in saecula.
Amen.
Notre Père qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié.
Que ton règne vienne.
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences
comme nous pardonnons aussi
à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal.
Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire
pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.
Concluding prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
you who live and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
In these strange times, we are called to trust
Other resources
Acknowledgements
* Beginning with the week after Pentecost, the lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library
In that lectionary, the readings are in the following order: Old Testament reading, Psalm, New Testament reading; we have changed the order to the more usual OT, Psalm and NT.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Collects are from the Scottish Episcopal Church, 1982.
Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown, by Alistair Warwick.
Music engraved by The Art of Music.
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