Saturday Prayer - Canticle of the Sun

The life and writings of St. Francis of Assisi were instrumental in our spiritual growth.  Here’s one of my favorites.

 

The Canticle of the Sun

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord!  All praise is yours, all glory, all honor and all blessing.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,

And first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars; in the heavens you have made them, bright and precious and fair.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and fair and stormy, all the weather by which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water, so useful, lowly, precious, and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten up the night.  How beautiful he is, how joyful!  Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces various fruits and colored flowers and herbs.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace, by you, Most High, they will be crowned.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death, from whose embrace no mortal can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Happy those She finds doing your will!    The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks, and serve him with great humility.

Saturday Prayer – Horses

Horses have changed our lives.  We are blessed to share our lives with Sugar and Morgunn.  Like any horse, they require work to maintain the relationship we have with them.  We have to remember they are horses, not big, hairy humans, and have their own way of looking at things and communicating with us and us with them.

One of the things we do each Spring is to give our horses a short course in things that might scare them so they build their trust in us.  We developed a trust course several years ago and we worked with both of them yesterday.

The course involves several things.  First, there are the orange cones with little American flags fluttering in the wind.

Then there are little garden flowers that spin really fast in the wind.

There are hula hoops they have to walk over.  What makes them a little scary, besides the fact they will move if stepped on, is they contain little beads that make a noise when they move.

There are nerf floats they have to walk over and they move too.

Finally, there is an exercise ball that moves when the wind blows.

We lead the horses through the various moving things.  Morgunn does it all without batting an eyelash.  He’s an old pro and has done this for several years.  However, it was all new to Sugar.  So, we let them roam among the items for awhile to get used to them a little.

Here’s Betty leading Sugar through the cones and flags.  Sugar handled those just fine.  Her head is down and her tail is relaxed.  She’s walking behind Betty’s shoulder which means she’s showing Betty respect.

The only thing that gave her any problem was walking over the hula hoops.  She would step on one and it would pop up and she would run out from them, but only for a step or two. 

Betty worked patiently with Sugar so she was able to walk through the hoops in a more relaxed way.  In the picture below, Sugars ears are back a little so Betty knows this is still not her favorite thing.  But, her head is lowered and she’s walking through the hoops on a loose lead.  Her tail is relaxed so she’s doing fine.  She’s trusting Betty that, even though she doesn’t like it, she’ll do what Betty asks.  Note Betty’s relaxed stance.  She’s helping Sugar keep her energy down by keeping her own energy down.  Horses, like most animals, read our body language more than anything else.  It’s the way they communicate with each other.

We know our horses are gifts from God so the following prayer is appropriate for today.

Horse Owners Prayer

Dearest Creator in Heaven,
Give me strength to guide my horse.
Let my hands be soft and my head clear.
Let my horse understand me and I him or her.

My heart you have blessed with a special love for these animals.  I will never loose sight of it.  My soul you have gifted with a deep appreciation for them that will never lessen, only continue to grow.

Always let my heart lighten as the sun gently touches them.  Always may my soul smile at the sound of a gentle nicker.  Let the scent of fresh hay and a new bag of grain be sweet to me.  Let the touch of a warm nose on my hand always bring a smile.

I adore the joy of a warm day, the grace and splendor of a running horse.  The thunder of it's hooves makes my eyes burn and my heart soar.  Let it always be so.

Dearest Creator grant me patience.  For horses are harnessed wind, and wind can be flighty.  Let me not frighten or harm them.  Instead show me natural ways to understand them.

Above all, dear Creator, fill my life with horses.  When I pass from this world, send my soul to no heaven without them.

For this love of horses you have given me graces my existence and I shall cherish it and praise You for it for all time.

Amen

Saturday Prayer – Losing a Loved One

If you have watched the Olympics at all, you know the story of Joannie Rochett, the Canadian figure skater whose mother died of a heart attack two days before her competition.

Joannie carried on through her compulsory skate and the free skate two nights later.  Against terrific competition she was able to win a Bronze medal.  Given what was going on within her heart and mind that’s quite an accomplishment.

Prayer for Losing a Loved One

Surrounded by friends
yet all alone,
the one I loved
God has called home.

The hugs of friends
helps ease the pain
and I know my loss
is my loved one's gain.

But tears now flow
across my face
as I long for just
one more embrace.

Then comfort comes
and I see Christ's face;
He hugs my loved one
and I feel God's grace.

Saturday Prayer – Lent

This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the entrance into a 40 day preparation for the Celebration of Easter.  This 40 day period is called Lent or the Lenten Season.

In the early church this was a time of preparation for new believers who would be baptized on the Saturday before Easter.

For many Lent is a time of discipline, a time of withdrawal from something in their lives that gives them pleasure.  Lent can also be a time of drawing to – drawing closer to the source of life, Jesus Christ.

A Prayer for Lent

Heavenly Father, I am called to walk by the light of Christ, your Son, and to trust in his wisdom.

During Lent, I submit my self to him more and more and am striving to believe in him with all my heart.

I enter on this path of repentance so that in dying to self I might rise to new life.

Lord Jesus, you spoke peace to a sinful world and brought mankind the gift of reconciliation by the suffering and death you endured. I love you and joyfully bear the name Christian.

Teach me to follow your example. Increase my faith, hope and charity so that I may struggle to turn hatred to love and conflict to peace.

Loving Redeemer through your passion, teach me self-denial, strengthen me against evil and adversity and so make me ready to celebrate your Resurrection.

Healer of body and soul, cure the sickness in my spirit so that I may grow in holiness through your constant care.

Forgive my sins against the unity of your family; make me love as you loved me.

Good Master, make me mindful of the dignity you gave me in Baptism, may I live for you at every moment.

Give me a perfect heart to receive your work, that I may bring forth fruit in patience.

Saturday Prayer – The Nicene Creed

Betty and I attended an Episcopal Church for years and one of the things I loved was the Book of Common Prayer.  I loved the many prayers, most scripture-based, that are part of the liturgy.  One of my favorites is the Nicene Creed which was adopted by the church in 325.

 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Saturday Prayer – Pain

Reflecting on the pain that Betty has struggled with over the past few months led me to this prayer from the book, “Praying Our Goodbyes.”  (Betty is getting better every day but here pain is still not completely gone.)

Prayer Of One Who Is In Constant Pain

God of oneness, wholeness, I hurt and I dream of a day when I no longer feel continual distress in my body.  I cry out to you to hear me, to stretch your arms of compassion to me and to embrace me with your comfort. 

My being needs to be filled with your spiritual energy.  I am weary with the struggle to feel well and to be in good health.  It is so easy to slide into depression and self-pity, to be impatient and despondent. 

God of the living, hear me.  Fill my empty places with hope.  Fill my life with a sense of joy in spite of this ceaseless pain.  Help me to fight that giant oppressor of spirit: discouragement.  Remind me often of the good people of my life and of all the blessings that are mine as I struggle with this pain which is ever present to me.  I praise and thank you for being a God who never leaves me.

I love you, God.  I know you are my inner strength, especially now when my body does not have the strength that I took for granted in the past.  God, my deliverer, I turn to you. 

Sometimes I feel that I do not want to go on.  I get swallowed up by the floods of self-pity and discouragement.  In my distress I cry out to you.  Reach out to me and rescue me from the enemy of pain.  Set me free of its grasp of resentment.  Fill me with courage.  When the darkness of constant pain threatens to overcome me, brighten the darkness with your presence. 

With you by my side I can go through this.  You are like a rock.  You will be my strength.  You are like a shield.  You can protect my spirit from being broken by my body’s pain.  I will keep coming to you, touching the hem of your garment of love and feeling the spiritual energy which you share with me.  I love you and I place my trust in you.

Amen.

Saturday Prayer – Binding and Loosing

I tried for awhile to give vent to my rants about the state of our nation.  After awhile I realized that I was wasting my energy and losing my focus.  I also recently realized that over the years I have been blessed to run across some good prayers from a lot of sources, ancient and modern, that have affected my spiritual journey.  I recently shared one in a Sunday Reflection on the Jesus Prayer.

Rather than focus on the folly of men I want to focus on the greatness and wisdom of God shown through these prayers.

The first one today is binding and loosing.  However, it has nothing to do with binding or loosing of evil spirits.  It’s a prayer of binding and loosing of ourselves.

Binding and Loosing Prayer…

I bind my mind to the mind of Christ.
I bind my will to the will of Christ.
I bind my emotions to the emotions of Christ.
I bind my desires to the desires of Christ.
I bind my affections to the affections of Christ.

I bind my feet to the path of Christ.
I bind my hands to the work of Christ.
I bind my mouth and ears to the words of Christ.
I bind my eyes to the vision of Christ.
I bind my character to the truth of Christ.
I bind my heart to the love of Christ.

I loose from myself anything that is no like Christ (lust, anger, jealousy, selfishness, pride, arrogance, gossip, criticism, judgment, etc.) and declare all those aspects of my old sin nature dead in Christ Jesus.  I present myself, a living sacrifice, as an instrument of righteousness and not of sin.

All this I do for the sake of my Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit and all for the glory of God, my Father in Heaven.

Amen.