Praying at Home Today: Monday 1 February 2021
Praying at home today:
blessing others by showing them compassion
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’s optional!
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
All my bones shall say,
‘O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak from those too strong for them,
the weak and needy from those who despoil them.’Omnia ossa mea dicent:
Domine, quis similis tibi?
eripiens inopem de manu fortiorum ejus;
egenum et pauperem a diripientibus eum.Tout mon être dira:
«Eternel, qui peut, comme toi,
délivrer le malheureux d’un plus fort que lui,
le malheureux et le pauvre de celui qui les dépouille?»
Psalm 34(35):10
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
Balaam and his donkey
Balak, King of Moab is frightened by the military progress of the Israelites as they approach the Jordan.
Led by Joshua, they’ve already defeated other tribes and nations and are on the threshold of the Promised Land.
So he resorts to sorcery; he summons Balaam, a well-known wizard from the East, ordering him to curse them.
We read that God tells Balaam not to curse them as they are blessed.
(The story gets a bit confused at this point, probably because it contains elements from more than one tradition.)
As he is leaving with the king’s men, he is thwarted by his donkey (which seems to have more sense than he does – see the rest of the chapter), who tries to lead him off the road and away from the avenging angel.
Basically, this confused narrative(!) is a story of God’s continued blessing of the Israelites, despite their failure to keep faithful to the covenant. God’s plan will not be thwarted by human disobedience.
Although the historical evidence for St Bride (or Bridget, of Cell Dara, in Leinster, Ireland) is scarce, the myths about her compassion are still worthy of praise and emulation.
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Music for reflection
Prayer Suggestions
As the Church celebrates Bride of Kildare (525),
we pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of our world:
- that we may show compassion to those in need
- that we will be kind to ourselves, made in God’s image and likeness.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
that we recognise God’s Love in every kindness.)
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.
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 offenses,
comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous laisse pas entrer en 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.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificetur 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.
Concluding prayer
O God,
through our human frailty,
we cannot stand firm:
give us strength and protection,
that, with your help,
we may overcome all difficulties;
through 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
Verbum caro factum est.
Et habitavit in nobis. Alleluia!
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 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.
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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