Prayer of Clement XI - "The Universal Prayer"
George Herbert
E. LaVerne Epp
Thomas á Kempis
Thomas Aquinas
Theresa of Avila
Gerard Manley Hopkins (Pied Beauty)
Francis of Assisi
Book of Common Prayer
Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.
I worship you as my first beginning.
I long for you as my last end.
I praise you as my constant helper,
and call on you as my loving protector.
Guide me by your wisdom,
correct me with your justice,
comfort me with your mercy,
protect me with your power.
I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
my words: to have you for their theme;
my actions: to reflect my love for you;
my sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.
I want to do what you ask of me:
in the way that you ask,
for as long as you ask,
because you sak it.
Lord, enlighten my understanding,
strengthen my will,
purify my heart,
and make me holy.
Help me to repent of my past sins
and to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weakness
and to grow stronger as a Christian.
Let me love you, my Lord and my God,
and see myself as I really am:
a pilgrim in this world,
a Christian called to respect and love
all whose lives I touch,
those in authority over me
or those under my authority,
my friends and my enemies.
Help me to conquer anger by gentleness,
greed by generosity, apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself
and reach out toward others.
Make me prudent in planning,
courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering,
unassuming in prosperity.
Keep me, Lord, attentive in prayer,
temperate in food and drink,
diligent in my work,
firm in my good intentions.
Let my conscience be clear,
my conduct without fault,
my speech blameless,
my life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me,
keep your law,
and come at last to your salvation.
Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
that my true future is the happiness of heaven,
that life on earth is short,
and the life to come eternal.
Help me to prepare for death
with a proper fear of judgment,
but a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death
to the endless joy of heaven.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me,
With faith, with hope, with charity,
That I may run, rise, rest with thee.
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We thank you, God, for this amazing day;
for the true dream of a cloud-filled sky,
for the cool embrace of a comforting breeze,
for everything that is natural,
everything that is alive,
everything that is part of your dynamic creation.
We thank you, God,
for the phenomenon that we know as life.
We experience life as joy at the birth of a child;
as love when we find others who share with us;
as exhilaration of victory in sporting events,
academic debate, business ventures;
as fulfilling satisfaction when we achieve;
as confusion and disappointment when others fail us;
as anxiety and pain when illness intervenes;
as fear and hurt when death takes someone we love.
We acknowledge the complex rhythms
that make life different for each of us,
but we are brought together by a community of faith
that interweaves us with one another,
individuals bound by a common purpose
and circles of concern.
We give thanks for this spirit of humanity.
In all we do and experience, O God,
teach us first to love, for love is most precious.
Love knows no limit to its endurance,
no end to its trust, no fading of its hope.
It outlasts anything, and it stands when all else has fallen.
When we love, it is easier to speak;
it is easier to listen;
it is easier to play;
it is easier to work;
it is easier to cry;
it is easier to laugh.
Teach us that love is the truest of all seasons;
give us the desire and willingness to share its beauty.
Teach us that of all the music of this earth,
that which reaches the farthest into heaven
is the beating of a loving heart.
Now, O God, in the quiet of this moment,
we pray for a reawakening of our senses to this day.
Open our minds to all that is ours-
to imagination, to understanding,
to a sense of peace, to constant singing.
And when this day is done,
give us hope for another day,
to experience your enduring love.
For all that we are, this is our prayer. Amen.
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Grant to us, O Lord,
to know that which is worth knowing,
to love that which is worth loving,
to praise that which pleases you most,
to esteem that which is most precious unto you,
and to dislike whatsoever is evil in your eyes.
Grant us true judgment to distinguish things that differ
and above all to search out and do what is well pleasing to you,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, lofty origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your brilliance penetrate into the darkness of my understanding and take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of both sin and ignorance. Give me a sharp sense of understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations, and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in completion; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet, on earth but yours.
Your are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet
With which He walks to do good.
Your are the hands
With which He blesses all the world
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet.
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes, through which He Looks
compassion on the world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
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Glory be to God for dappled things-
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced-fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
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Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
give us miserable ones
the grace to do for you alone
what we know you want us to do
and always to desire what pleases you.
Inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints of your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
and, by your grace alone,
may we make our way to you,
Most High,
who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified
God almighty,
forever and ever.
Amen.
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Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us. But you, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
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