Praying at Home Today: Thursday 22 July 2021
Praying at home today:
Seeking the truth
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.
Short reading
The Lord is near to all who call,
to all who call on God in truth.Prope est Dominus omnibus invocantibus eum,
omnibus invocantibus eum in veritate.L’Eternel est près de tous ceux qui font appel à lui,
de tous ceux qui font appel à lui avec sincérité.
Psalm 144(145):18
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
We reflected yesterday on Jesus’ extraordinary character, mixing with the most despised people in society, including lepers, tax collectors and prostitutes.
Almost certainly not among these prostitutes was one Mary of Magdala.
Mary has been given a bad “rep” in the past, wrongly identified with an unidentified “woman [who] came in, who had a bad name in the town” (Luke 7:37).
Mary “surnamed the Magdalene” is mentioned in Luke 8:2 as one of a group of women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments. She had been cured after seven demons had been driven out (this may have included depression); others in the group were “Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources”.
It is most unlikely that someone with a “bad name in the town” would be amongst this group, as they all looked after Jesus and the Twelve “out of their own resources”.
Incidentally, in eight of the 14 times she is mentioned, it is in the context of a group of women, and she is always named first among them, suggesting that she had some pre-eminent place. The other five mentions when she is named alone are in the context of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
There are also extant fragments of an eponymous Apocryphal Gospel, in which she is shown to be treated seriously as a disciple of Jesus.
We know from the canonical Gospels that Mary Magdalene was the last to leave Jesus’ tomb and the first to witness his resurrection.
But what about the woman with a bad name? We know that she too loved Jesus much “because her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her”.
Not, we hear, that Jesus would have had a problem with such a person being near him. As we heard yesterday, he welcomed sinners.
There are two significant women here, one unnamed, Mary Magdalene the other. Both showed great love to Jesus and are examples of faith to us some 2,000 years later.
This episode also reminds us how easy it is for someone’s reputation to be damaged, and how easy it is for us to accept what others tell us.
Our challenge today might well be to look beyond what we are told, to discern the truth and to live accordingly.
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Music for reflection
Prayer Suggestions
As the Church celebrates Mary Magdalene,
we pray at home today for the needs of our world.
- the victims of character assassination
- those unjustly accused
- all who seek to unearth the truth.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for mental health and wellbeing for people of all ages.)
For all who have asked for our prayers.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all
Amen.
Prayer for Palestine and Israel
O God the creator of all life,
we bring before you all the people who call Israel and Palestine home.
We particularly remember those living in Jerusalem and Gaza
whose lives are marred by restrictions to their freedom,
the threat of eviction from their homes
and the constant fear of armed conflict.
We ask your forgiveness for the anger, hatred and violence
that all of us have the potential to carry within us.
We beseech you to soften hearts and open minds
so that the sanctity of life is always protected,
the right to freedom of worship upheld
and the security of a safe home defended.
We pray that justice will flow like rivers,
that human dignity will be respected
and that each of us may strive
to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you our God.
Amen.
Embrace the Middle East
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;
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.
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.
Concluding prayer
O God of power and might,
all good things belong to you:
sow in our hearts the love of your name,
and make us grow in the life of faith;
nurture the things that are good,
and tend them with your loving care;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Pentecost 8
Returning to the world
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 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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