I love to pray. I hope you do too. One of the great joys of my life has been discovering the rich tradition of praying written prayers. Like good worship songs, written prayers open up our imaginations and help us lift our heart to God in choice, meaningful ways.
Today I ran into this one, and it was really apropos … The Arndt family takes Fridays as our “Sabbath” day. A day for rest and play and prayer and refreshment. This prayer reminded me that the “deep meaning” of Sabbath is that we can rest because God’s mysterious presence is always at work to make our lives whole, robust, and safe.
Come O holy Paraclete
And from your celestial seat
Send your light and brilliancy
Father of the poor, draw near
Giver of gifts, be here
Come, the soul’s true radiancy
Come, of comforters the best
Of the soul the sweetest guest
Come in toil refreshingly;
You in labor rest most sweet
You in shadow from the heat
Comfort in adversity
O light, most pure and blest
Shine within the inmost breast
Of your faithful company.
Where you are not, man has nought
Every holy deed and thought
Comes from your divinity.
What is soiled, you make pure
What is wounded, work its cure
What is parched, fructify;
What is rigid, gently tend
What is frozen, gently bend
Straighten what goes erringly.
Fill your faithful who confide
In your power to guard and guide
With your sevenfold mystery.
Here thy grace and virtue send
Grant salvation in the end
And in heaven felicity.
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May the Spirit of God pervade your life today. Wherever there is hardness, rigidness, and darkness, may He soften, bend, and enlighten. May you remember today that God is, and that (as the great Oral Roberts used to say) “God is a GOOD God.”
Know and celebrate his abundant goodness today.
Shalom.
Andrew
