Everlasting God,
you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order
the ministries of angels and mortals:
Mercifully grant that,
as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven,
so by your appointment
they may help and defend us here on earth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Compassionate God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and to give more than we desire or deserve;
pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things
of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those things
for which our prayer dares not ask;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
I am tolerant and inclusive because of not in spite of my Christian faith in the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. I affirm science, the results and conclusions of science, including the scientific conclusions about the origins of the universe and of life, together with human life because of not in spite of my Christian faith in the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.
O God,
you declare your almighty power
above all by showing mercy and compassion;
grant us the fullness of your grace,
that we, who are running to obtain your promises,
may be partakers of your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Lecherous King Henry VIII wanted to divorce one of his playgirls in order to start an affair with a new one. The Pope said no way. So Henry formed his own church with rules allowing divorce.
Today, Holy Cross Day, is 20 years since I formally became an Associate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross Cistercian Monastery, Kopua. This is comparable to third orders for some Religious Orders – trying to live Cistercian spirituality as much as possible beyond the monastery.
Merciful God,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace;
that we may be cleansed from all our sins
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
A great start to improving biblical literacy is to follow the full Sunday three-year lectionary.
