A litany for children ...

Today, a prayer:

A Litany for Children

One - O Holy One, we come before you with our prayers and petitions. As your children we seek your providence, protection, and power. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - “For unto us, a child is born,” a child, your son, our savior. For the coming of Jesus, his staying, and his leaving, we give you thanks. For his coming to bring peace, we give thanks. For his dwelling among us as a living image of you, we give thanks. For his leaving to prepare a table to share with us forever, we give thanks. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - O Almighty One, we know that not all children have been so longed for, so welcomed, so blessed. We bring before you those Jepthahs, those children who know not their fathers, or whose fathers will not accept them. Use us to bring them to you, Lord, so they may receive your acknowledgment as their true father. Bless them, protect them, Lord, in your mercy

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - O Steadfast One, too many Tamars, too many children know love and abuse, confused because the two are falsely linked by those who live with them. May the truth, however difficult, be known and acted upon by those who need to know it. May the truth of your steadfast love, pure and self-emptying, be known by these precious little ones. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - O Loving One, we bring before you those Ishmaels, the children taken beyond the bounds of safety, past the point of reasonable patience, all because of familial battles. Too often the foolishness in the lives of their parents protects the unfaithful or the untruthful and deprives the innocent and powerless. O Faithful One, keep these children in the promise of your love and providence. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - O Sending One, you see those widows of Zarephath and their children. You alone know how many children have only a mother, a mother with precious little in resources, but a heart full of love and faith. Send your servants, O Lord, to walk beside them so that, just at the right time, your providence arrives. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.


One - O Divine One, may our children be loved as Samuel was loved: longed for; prayed for; cared for; yet inevitably, sent forth, all to do your bidding and to glorify your Holy name. Lord, in your mercy,

Many - Hear our prayer.

One - O Holy One, like a mother you have drawn us to your breast, like a father you have guarded us through the night. Lord, as we have asked you as the Divine Parent to love and provide for all these, your children,

Many - So help us to love and provide for those children you have sent to us.

One - In the name of your precious child, Jesus, we petition you,

Many - Amen.

Blessings,

Ron

We humbly beseech thee ...

Today, a prayer:

Excepts from the Southwell Litany:

Let us pray, O Lord,
open our minds to see ourselves as thou seest us,
Or even as others see us and we see others,
And from all unwillingness to know our infirmities,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From moral weakness of spirit; from timidity; from hesitation;
From fear of others and dread of responsibility,
Strengthen us with the courage to speak the truth
in love and self-control;
And alike from the weakness of haste
and weakness of moral cowardice,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From dullness of conscience; from feeble sense of duty;
From thoughtless disregard of consequences to others;
From a low idea of the obligations of our Christian calling;
And from all half-heartedness in our service for thee;
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From weariness in continuing struggles;
from despondency in failure and disappointment;
From overburdened sense of unworthiness;
from morbid fancies of imaginary back-sliding;
Raise us to a lively hope and trust in thy presence and mercy,
In the power of faith and prayer;
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From pride and self-will;
from desire to have our own way in all things;
From overweening love of our own ideas
and blindness to the value of others;
From resentment against opposition
and contempt for the claims of others;
Enlarge the generosity of our hearts
and enlighten the fairness of our judgments;
And from all selfish arbitrariness of temper,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From all hasty utterances of impatience;
From the retort of irritation and the taunt of sarcasm;
From all infirmity of temper in provoking or being provoked;
From love of unkind gossip,
and from all idle words that may do hurt,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

From strife and partisanship and division among thy people,
From magnifying our certainties to condemn all differences,
From all arrogance in our dealings with others,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

Finally, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee,
blot out our past transgressions,
Heal the evils of our past negligences and ignorances,
Make us amend our past mistakes and misunderstandings;
Uplift our hearts to new love, new energy and devotion,
That we may be unburdened from the grief
and shame of past faithlessness
To go forth in thy strength to persevere
through success and failure,
Through good report and evil report,
And in all time of our tribulation,
in all time of our prosperity,
save us and help us,
We humbly beseech thee, O Lord.

Blessings,

Ron