Classic Prayers for a Contemporary Week
Prayer does not change God, but it changes one who prays.
Soren Kierkegaard
These prayers can enhance or begin the intentional discipline of daily prayer. Please consider.
Pastor Brian
Sunday
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, the truth;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; and
Where there is sadness, joy.
St. Francis of Assisi
Monday
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
St. Patrick
Tuesday
Majestic King, for ever wise, You melt my heart, which once was cold, And when your beauty fills my eyes It makes them young, which once were old.
Christ, my creator, hear my cry, I am yours, your can I hear, My Savior, Lover, yours am I, My heart to yours be ever near.
Whether in life or death's last hour, If sickness, pain or health you give, Or shame, or honor, weakness, power, Thankful is the life I live.Teresa of Avila
Wednesday
Grant me, O Lord, to know what I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love, to praise what delights Thee most,
to value what is precious in Thy sight, to hate what is offensive to Thee. Do not suffer me to judge according to the sight of my eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of the ignorant; but to discern with a true judgment between things visible and spiritual, and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of Thy will.
Thomas a Kempis
Thursday
God grant me Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Friday
O gracious and holy Father, Give us wisdom to perceive you,
intelligence to understand you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to see you, a heart to meditate on you, and a life to proclaim you, through the power of the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.
St. Benedict
Saturday
O Lord, accept our worship and have mercy upon us. Grant us compassion, mercy and forgiveness from your holy treasury. O Lord, our deeds make You angry; but you never desire to be angry. You are merciful and Your tranquility is never disturbed. Though our sins are abundant, they are like a drop of mud in Your ocean of mercy. A drop of mud cannot soil the ocean. O God who listens to prayers and grants supplications, be pleased in our prayers and grant our petitions in Your mercy.
Orthodox
O LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER
WEEKLY PRAYERS
