The Cosmos is Our Daily Office

At the Dwelling Place, George Bebawi shared a prayer written by his mentor Philemon, a hermit monk. It's something everyone ought to consider putting into practice:

When it is hot pray for the fire of the Holy Spirit and let this outside heat be your constant reminder.

When it is cold pray for more unity with the Lord and let the cold remind you of how sin can bring the coldness of heart and put out the fire of love.

When it rains, pray for the free grace which is given to all of us and pray for those who have not the grace of God in their life.

At midday our Lord was crucified do not let go of this moment in which we were reconciled to God. It is time to forgive all sins and injuries that we have sustained.

When you see the clouds pray for the Shekinah of God to protect you from evil. Pray also that this Shekinah overshadow the church.

At evening, it is time to remember our own death and give an account of what has happened during the day. Let us give thanks for what we have done and pray for the people whom we have seen and pray for a peaceful time for our sleep.

May the trees remind you of our growth Ps 1:3 and the roads of Jesus who is our Way, the building of our eternal dwelling with the Holy Trinity where we will not dwell in what is made by hands.

When we enter our dwellings let us remember our eternal dwelling in God and pray to be secured by God’s justifying grace which cannot be compared with our doors and walls.

If you have your hope in the life to come and in the resurrection and the eternal life pray that your bed be your grave and your covers be your shrouds. Say with the Lord, ‘Father into your hands I commit my spirit and sleep.

Do not let this become the chains of servitude.


As for the movements of our body:

When you sit to pray, you are sitting at the Right-hand of God the Father in Jesus Christ.

When you stand to pray, you are in the position of the resurrection with Christ our Lord.

When you kneel to pray, say the same words of our Lord in the garden and surrender daily to regain your peace the gift of God to us.

Enjoy sleeping as someone who is waiting to be raised by the Lord.

When getting dressed, pray that the Lord may take away the old life and give you the new one.

Give thanks for everything you eat and drink, for this is not in essence separated form the Holy Eucharist. If Christ is the food and the nourishment of your life then every meal will become a chance to pray to receive Him and to be nourished by Him waiting for the Meal that gave new meaning for every meal.

May your walking be always a renewal to commit your life to the Way of the One who is our only Mediator.

This does not mean, however, that each of the above should be performed with particular words or fixed manners; nor does one fix a particular way of behavior, because the sense of the presence of the Lord is the goal of prayer.

Our prayers and our behavior are unified to adjust our life to our fellowship with the Lord.


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Prayer of Emergence

Dear God,

Save me from the pride of having things figured out. The arrogance of thinking I’m doing things the right way. That everyone else is wrong and I’m the only one who sees what went wrong. As if I know how to do things correctly; that somehow, I’m smart or insightful enough to be able to ride in on a high horse of judgment. Save me from my vision of religion and spirituality blinding me from loving others.

Save me from the spirit of bitterness against the church. My frustrations at our inability to be the kind of loving community You called us to be. The shoddy treatment I may have experienced at the hands. The let-downs and disappointments - it’s easy to focus on the Church’s shortcomings. Just as it’s easy to forget that the Church is us and You don’t focus on our short-comings. Let me remember all of the wrongs the Church has committed in Your Name, let every experience sear my heart so that they won’t be repeated on my watch. Help me to remember that the Church is Your bride, however numerous her faults, and how you’ve chosen to bring about Your kingdom.

Save me from the spirit of hearing sermons “so and so” should be hearing or reading books “so and so” should read, but help me to realize that I’m the one who should be hearing and reading. Help me to do my part to inflict less damage into the world. Remind me that I am here to love “those people”, too. Remind me that too often I’ve been a part of the problem.

Save me from my own hubris of the rightness of my spiritual journey. Help me as I work out my journey. Reveal Your Word to me in a fresh way so that I may know you better. Let my questions draw me closer to the reality of You. Let my life reflect Your love and healing. Let my actions help bring reconciliation.

Prayerfully, I’d settle for at least being on the right track.

Ever stumbling toward faith,

Maurice

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If you want to make sure that I see your comment or just want to stop by and say hi, feel free to do so on my message board. I apologize in advance for some of my regulars.