One good prayer
Prayer is hard. Prayers seem to fail us or to go unanswered, for years and even a lifetime, and we struggle against a debilitating discouragement as the months pass by and our prayer life is discovered to be anything but lively. We find ourselves forgetting how to pray or at the very least how to pray with any kind of daily constancy. We mumble our prayers. We pray puny prayers. We pray rushed prayers, prayers thin with faith, prayers on auto pilot while the heart frets and the mind keeps at bay the proliferating stresses of the day.
It is not uncommon that at different points of our lives we become weary of our own words of prayer, weary of hearing the tired repetitiousness of our own voice, and we feel this acute need to pray different words, preferably other people's words, the good words that the saints have crafted with the Holy Spirit's help for the good of the body of Christ down through the ages.
I say nothing new here, of course, but if for any reason you, like me, are feeling faint of prayer or frustrated with your prayers, let me offer you one good prayer. In church tradition it is called "The Great Litany," and while I include only a portion of the prayer, these few words will hopefully help you pray one good prayer today, if not also whet your appetite to pray the whole thing. Perhaps you may even find yourself praying this litany daily. If you're not up to reading it (preferably out loud, I might add, though it will only take you 3 minutes) and would prefer to hear it, you can go here. Or you could listen to a wonderful daily prayer here. Or check out (here and here) this fabulous contemporary rendition of the Litany from Cardiphonia and friends
Good friend, take heart. Christ is with you today, interceding on your behalf to his Father, and the Spirit takes even our feeblest, our dodgiest prayers, and makes something good come out of them. And I say that to myself as much as to you.
Juntos.
THE GREAT LITANY
That it may please thee to make wars to cease in all the world;
to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; and to
bestow freedom upon all peoples,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to show thy pity upon all prisoners
and captives, the homeless and the hungry, and all who are
desolate and oppressed,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the
bountiful fruits of the earth, so that in due time all may enjoy
them,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to inspire us, in our several callings,
to do the work which thou givest us to do with singleness of
heart as thy servants, and for the common good,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to preserve all who are in danger by
reason of their labor or their travel,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to preserve, and provide for, all
women in childbirth, young children and orphans, the
widowed, and all whose homes are broken or torn by strife,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to visit the lonely; to strengthen all
who suffer in mind, body, and spirit; and to comfort with thy
presence those who are failing and infirm,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to support, help, and comfort all who
are in danger, necessity, and tribulation,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to have mercy upon all mankind,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give us true repentance; to forgive
us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue
us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives
according to thy holy Word,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue
us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives
according to thy holy Word,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors,
and slanderers, and to turn their hearts,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
and slanderers, and to turn their hearts,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand; to
comfort and help the weak-hearted; to raise up those who
fall; and finally to beat down Satan under our feet,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
comfort and help the weak-hearted; to raise up those who
fall; and finally to beat down Satan under our feet,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to grant to all the faithful departed
eternal life and peace,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
eternal life and peace,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to grant that, in the fellowship of
[__________ and] all the saints, we may attain to thy
heavenly kingdom,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
[__________ and] all the saints, we may attain to thy
heavenly kingdom,
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us.
Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us.
Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
Grant us thy peace.
Grant us thy peace.
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Comments
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1 Jesus, show us thy salvation,
(In thy strength we strive with thee)
By thy mystic incarnation,
By thy pure nativity,
Save us thou, our new-Creator,
Into all our souls impart,
Thy divine unsinning nature,
Form thyself within our heart.
2 By thy first blood-shedding heal us;
Cut us off from every sin,
By thy circumcision seal us,
Write thy law of love within;
By thy Spirit circumcise us:
Kindle in our hearts a flame;
By thy baptism baptize us
Into all thy glorious name.
3 By thy fasting and temptation
Mortify our vain desires,
Take away what sense, or passion,
Appetite, or flesh requires:
Arm us with thy self-denial,
Every tempted soul defend,
Save us in the firey trial,
Make us faithful to the end.
4 By thy sorer sufferings save us,
Save us when conform’d to thee,
By thy miseries relieve us,
By thy painful agony;
When beneath thy frown we languish,
When we feel thine anger’s weight,
Save us by thine unknown anguish,
Save us by thy bloody sweat.
5 By that highest point of passion,
By thy sufferings on the tree,
Save us from the indignation
Due to all mankind, and me:
Hanging, bleeding, panting, dying,
Gasping out thy latest breath,
By thy precious death’s applying
Save us from eternal death.
6 From the world of care release us,
By thy decent burial save,
Crucified with thee, O Jesus,
Hide us in thy quiet grave:
By thy power divinely glorious,
By thy resurrection’s power
Raise us up, o’er sin victorious,
Raise us up to fall no more.
7 By the pomp of thine ascending,
Live we here to heaven restor’d,
Live in pleasures never ending,
Share the portion of our Lord:
Let us have our conversation
With the blessed spirits above,
Sav’d with all thy great salvation,
Perfectly renew’d in love.
8 Glorious head, triumphant Saviour,
High enthron’d above all height,
We have now thro’ thee found favour,
Righteous in thy Father’s sight:
Hears he not thy prayer unceasing?
Can he turn away thy face:
Send us down the purchas’d blessing,
Fulness of the gospel-grace.
9 By the coming of thy Spirit
As a mighty rushing wind,
Save us into all thy merit,
Into all thy sinless mind;
Let the perfect gift be given,
Let thy will in us be seen,
Done on earth as ’tis in heaven:
Lord, thy Spirit cries Amen!