Praying at Home Today: Saturday 29 August 2020
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A warm welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find 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.
Everything is optional!
From 29 June to 22 August 2020, we used the Track 1 “semi-continuous” Old Testament readings; from Monday 23 August 2020 we are using the Track 2 “related” readings (this also affects the psalm or equivalent response); 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
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and mind.Proba me, Domine, et tenta me;
ure renes meos et cor meum.Examine-moi, Eternel, mets-moi à l’épreuve,
purifie au creuset mes reins et mon cœur.
Psalm 25 (26): 2
The Liturgy of the Word *
Here are today’s Bible readings.
You can read just one, or all three if you have time.
One link to all three readings
Separate links to each reading
Short Reflection
Integrity, truth and justice
It is clear from the scriptures, indeed it is in the belief systems of all major religions, that we should seek to be people of integrity, to live in truth and to seek justice.
And yet this is strangely elusive.
Human capacity for self-deception is enormous.
We only have to witness some of the people with power to see just how deluded they are.
What about us? What about me?
Our capacity for self-deception is enormous.
We can think that we are living lives of integrity and yet be fooling ourselves (usually not our closest family members, however!).
The Psalmist, in the first verse of Psalm 25 (26) says/sings,
Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
It’s interesting that the Psalmist says “walking in my integrity” (The Latin text is similar: “in innocentia mea”; this French version omits this ownership).
Is the Psalmist admitting that he may be kidding himself?
If so, then the second verse is vital:
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
This seeming faithfulness requires testing and proving.
Just as an author needs her text to be proofread to ensure that it is free from errors, so we need to be tested.
Likewise, a skilled person takes exams, subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of others before being accepted as being “up to scratch”.
And so with us, in our spiritual journey: we need the testing fires that will purify us “as gold and silver are refined”.
The Dream of Gerontius
In the Roman Catholic tradition, there is a tradition that speaks of the soul needing purification after death, before one can face God.
This is beautifully portrayed in St John Henry Newman’s Dream of Gerontius (set to music by Edward Elgar):
… Praise to His Name!
O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,
Consumed, yet quickened, by the glance of God.
Alleluia! Praise to His Name.
The angel is answered by the Soul:
Take me away, and in the lowest deep
There let me be,
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,
Told out for me.
There, motionless, and happy in my pain,
Lone, not forlorn –
There will I sing my sad perpetual strain,
Until the morn,
There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,
Which ne’er can cease
To throb, and pine, and languish, till possest
Of its Sole Peace.
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love: –
Take me away,
That sooner I may rise, and go above,
And see Him in the truth of everlasting day.
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Prayer Suggestions
Again, we turn to God,
aware of our need for God’s loving mercy.
We place before God our beautiful yet fragile earth,
and its wonderful, yet flawed people.
We pray for ourselves that we may welcome God’s testing,
that we may become more as God would want us to be.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all.
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
Lead me, Lord,
lead me in thy righteousness,
make thy way plain before my face.
For it is thou, Lord,
thou, Lord only,
that makest me dwell in safety.
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.
In these strange times, we are called to trust
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
There are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers.
You can buy ‘The Complete Chronicles of Narnia’ at Amazon
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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