Opening Prayer:
Dear Jesus,
Help me to realize the many voices of hunger, the many sounds of thirst, the many cries of loneliness, the many callings of sickness and nakedness and imprisonment. Help me to hear in all of them something of You calling to me to become more than I am. More understanding. More compassionate. More involved. More like You. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)
Psalm for the Week: Psalm 82
Scripture for the Day: Isaiah 61:1-6
Reading for Reflection:
Real training for service asks for a hard and often
painful process of self-emptying. The
main problem of service is to be a way without being “in the way.” And if there are any tools, techniques and
skills to be learned they are primarily to plow the field, to cut the weeds and
clip the branches, that is, to take away the obstacles for real growth and
development. Training for service is not
a training to become rich but to become voluntarily poor; not to fulfill
ourselves but to empty ourselves; not to conquer God but to surrender to his
saving power. All this is very hard to
accept in our contemporary world, which tells us about the importance of
power and influence. But it is important
that in this world there remain a few voices crying out that if there is
anything to boast of, we should boast of our weakness. Our fulfillment is in offering emptiness, our
usefulness in becoming useless, our power in becoming powerless. (Reaching
Out by Henri J.M. Nouwen)
Reflection and Listening: silent and written
Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Song for the Week: For All the Saints
Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Song for the Week: For All the Saints
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Closing Prayer:
Go forth now as God’s servant. Remember God’s presence often and draw strength from the knowledge that the One who calls and sends also sustains. Amen. (A Guide to Prayer by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)
