Praying at Home Today: Tuesday 8 December 2020
Praying at home today: opening our minds to what God is calling us; Mary’s example
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!
We follow the Track 2 “related” Old Testament reading and psalm (or equivalent response).
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
If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I that I could hinder God?
Si ergo eamdem gratiam dedit illis Deus, sicut et nobis qui credidimus in Dominum Jesum Christum:
ego quis eram, qui possem prohibere Deum?
Puisque Dieu leur a accordé le même don qu’à nous qui avons cru au Seigneur Jésus-Christ,
qui étais-je, moi, pour m’opposer à Dieu?
Acts 11:17
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
Advent hope
There’s a fascinating line at the end of verse four of today’s psalm:
One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.
This sense of enquiry is important: it’s good to keep an enquiring mind about our faith and our journey in faith.
The early Christian believers had a real dilemma: do they stick with what they know, or do they think outside their comfort zone and begin to reach out, albeit reluctantly, beyond the Jewish people?
It can be difficult to think outside our cognitive framework, what we perceive to be normal.
Yet this is precisely what the proto-Church had to do, to grow and fulfil its vocation and mission.
Society of Mary
As we celebrate today Mary’s own conception, we give thanks for the work of the Society of Mary.
The Marists’ motto, Per Mariam ad Jesum (through Mary to Jesus), reminds us that although sometimes we have a direct experience of God in our lives, more often than not faith is communicated through others, saints on the journey with us.
On the shoot of Jesse, a winter rose is springing:
Jesus,
born of Mary,
born of her parents
(traditionally named as Anne and Joachim).
Maranatha
Come, Lord Jesus
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Music for reflection *
Prayer Suggestions
As the Church celebrates the Conception of Mary, Mother of the Lord,
we pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of the world:
- for the Society of Mary
- for those who work and pray at the shrines in Walsingham, England
- for those who inspire us.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for the Revd Val Nellist.)
For all who have asked for our prayers.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all
Amen.
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
Stir up our hearts, Lord,
to prepare the way of your only-begotten Son:
that, in his coming,
we might serve you with our hearts made pure;
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Returning to the world
Maranatha!
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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 Bookshop.org
Other worship resources
Praying at Home Today: Acknowledgements
* The lectionary for weekdays in Ordinary Time is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, following the related readings (Track 2).
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 usually 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 usually 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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