Praying at Home Today: Wednesday 1 July 2020
Welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find some worship resources for praying at home today or wherever you are.
We hope these readings, prayers, music and the short reflection will help you stay in touch with the Church and to sustain you on your journey through life.
If this is your first visit to this website, then you might like to read about the common elements and the suggested structure for each day’s prayer.
Please note that with effect from Monday 29 June 2020, we have reverted to the Track 1 “semi-continuous” Old Testament readings (this also affects the psalm); the New Testament and Gospel readings remain unchanged.
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.
In the name of the living God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Short reading
Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,
you that seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.Audite me, qui sequimini quod justum est,
et quaeritis Dominum;
attendite ad petram unde excisi estis,
et ad cavernam laci de qua praecisi estis.Ecoutez-moi, vous qui poursuivez la justice,
qui cherchez l’Eternel!
Portez les regards sur le rocher d’où vous avez été taillés,
sur la carrière d’où vous avez été tirés.
Isaiah 51:1
The Liturgy of the Word *
Here are today’s Bible readings.
You can read just one, or all of them if you have time.
Short Reflection
Narrative identity **
By experience throughout our lives, we come to realise that “I” am the central character in the drama that is my world; all other people have supporting roles.
It can be fascinating to witness somebody else as they act as the chief character in the drama that is their world.
What are they thinking as they drive the car beside us on the motorway, as they stand in front of us in the supermarket queue?
What are their hopes and fears, their concerns and their dreams?
The first verse from Isaiah 51 speaks of looking “to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug”.
The people of Israel are hewn from the rock of Abraham and Sarah, our father and mother in faith and, as Christians, we share this heritage with the people of Islam and the people of Israel.
We don’t act in isolation. We are part of a bigger identity, we are the product of our parents, and in turn of our grandparents, and their parents and grandparents.
Kairos – significant time
Even though existentialists talk of us being like stones thrown up onto a beach, where we stay for a while before being dragged back into the ocean, faith assures us that life is not just the “three score years and ten, or eighty for those who are strong”; we are called to share in καιρος, God’s time, in which everything is made new.
Kairos is a time of grace, a moment in which the finger of God touches our reality and reveals his presence more fully in a certain moment.
While we experience them in a moment of time, these opportunities of grace touch the core of who we are and take on eternal meaning.
The Incarnation itself, is perhaps the greatest example of kairos in human history.
When the “time” of salvation arrived, the divine completely penetrated our reality. Salvation itself transcends time, but came to the world through a particular [Saviour], who became incarnate in a particular place and a particular time and, in so doing, wedded time and eternity.
Prayer Suggestions
In a moment of stillness,
we can remember our parents and grandparents and,
perhaps regardless of how we actually feel about them,
we can be grateful to them for giving us life.
We remember our ancestors,
“the rock from which we have been hewn”,
and ask God to heal at the roots ***
anything in their lives which still impacts us today.
Pray for those who are seriously ill,
those who worry about them
and those who care for them.
We pray for our politicians seeking to guide a path of safety for us,
and for scientists who try to advise them;
that we may all do our part to keep others safe from the virus;
for those who work in our countries’ National Health Services,
for essential workers,
those in care homes,
and all of us.
Music for reflection *
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
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
we thank you for the gift of life,
for the gift of faith;
through our constant prayer
help us grow in your grace and mercy
that your Kingdom may come,
your will be done,
today and always.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Benedicamus Domino.
Deo gratias.
Thank you for joining us in praying at home.
Oremus pro invicem.
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
** More on narrative identity
*** sanatio in radice “healing in the root” in RC church law usually refers to making valid an invalid marriage without the need for going through another ceremony.
This concept, however, can also be applied to situations in our past, where we pray that God will bring healing to damage done to us or our forebears, or indeed to others.
Hans Urs von Balthasar speaks of the human person who is
meant to seek out, to reach out, and perhaps find something.
Someone Else reaches out to him and takes him by the hand,
a hand that had seemingly been groping in dark, empty space.
Explorations in Theology
IV: Spirit and Institution
(San Francisco, 1995) p. 26
There are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers (Amazon link)
In these strange times, we are called to trust
Other worship resources
Praying at Home Today: Acknowledgements
* Beginning with the week after Pentecost, the lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Currently, we’re following the semi-continuous readings (Track 1).
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.
English Bible texts 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.
Latin Bible texts are from Biblia Sacra Vulgata, and are in the Public Domain.
French Bible texts are from Version Segond 21 Copyright © 2007 Société Biblique de Genève by Société Biblique de Genève.
Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown in Scotland, by Alistair Warwick.
Music engraved by The Art of Music.
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