Nashotah House Prayer

A Daily Prayer for Nashotah House

Bless, O Lord, this house, set apart to the glory of thy great Name and the benefit of thine holy Church; and grant that thy Name may be worshiped here in truth and purity to all generations. Give thy grace and wisdom to all the authorities, that they may exercise holy discipline, and be themselves patterns of holiness, simplicity, and self-denial.

Bless all who may be trained here; take from them all pride, vanity, and self-conceit, and give them true humility and self-abasement. Enlighten their minds, subdue their wills, purify their hearts, and so penetrate them with thy Spirit and fill them with thy love, that they may go forth animated with earnest zeal for thy glory; and may thine ever-living Word so dwell within their hearts, that they may speak with that resistless energy of love which shall melt the hearts of sinners to the love of thee.

Open, O Lord, the hearts and hands of thy people, that they may be ready to give and glad to distribute to our necessities. Bless the founders and benefactors of this House, and recompense them with the riches of thine everlasting kingdom, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester

Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults
Which Thou has borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly,
Day by day. Amen.

Angelus Domini

In honor of the feast of the Annunciation, today:

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
Be it unto me according to thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made flesh:
And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God:
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts: that we to whom the Incarnation of thy Son, Jesus Christ, was made known by the message of an angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Lorica Patricii

In honor of St. Patrick's Day yesterday. . .

St. Patrick's Brestplate (Hymn version, tr. Cecil F. Alexander)

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Music at Cyber Hymnal and Oremus (which has the alternate tune for the second-to-last verse). More background on it here. An alternate version, The Cry of the Deer, can be found here.

The Porpoise of the Blog

So, I've been thinking for a while about doing this . . . There are a lot of Anglican blogs out there, particularly on the conservative/Catholic sides, that are issue-oriented. Nothing wrong with that--ECUSA certainly has issues these days. But, at least for me, it gets old after a while. And really, any study of Church history will point out that the Church having issues is nothing new; and any study of the Bible will point out that all of that is periferal anyway. So I thought that I'd put something together that would be oriented more toward the spiritual life. So, what I aim to do here is to post prayers and excerpts from various other works that are worth reflecting on, as the occasion for posting arises, and will do my best to cite appropriately. Along those lines, though, while I plan to leave the comments open, controversy is bad. I.e., fighting is a wonderful thing, if done for the right reasons and the right cause (that I say this should be no surprise to those of you who know me), just not here.