Suggestion for Daily Use

Follow the ‘Daily Prayer’ at the side+++Suivez le ‘Prière Quotidienne’. Read the bible passages and then the meditation. Pray, tell God how you felt about the reading and share the concerns of your life with him. Maybe you will continue the habit after Lent. Lisez les passages bible et après la méditation. Priez, dites à Dieu que vous avez ressenti à propos de la lecture et de partager les préoccupations de votre vie avec lui. Peut-être que vous allez continuer l'habitude après le Carême. Daily Prayer Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4.1-2 Now is the healing time decreed For sins of heart, of word or deed, When we in humble fear record The wrong that we have done the Lord. (Latin, before 12th century) Read: Read the Bible passage. Read the meditation Pray: Talk to God about what you have just read. Tell him your concerns - for yourself, your family, our church family, our world. Praise him. Pray the collect for the week – see next pages. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Prière Quotidienne Jésus, rempli de l'Esprit Saint, revint du Jourdain et le Saint-Esprit le conduisit dans le désert où il fut tenté par le diable durant quarante jours. Luc 4.1-2 Maintenant le temps de la guérison est décrété Pour les péchés du cœur, de la parole et des actes, Lorsque nous nous souvenons avec humilité Le mal que nous avons fait au Seigneur. Lire : Lisez le passage de la Bible. Lisez la méditation. Prier : Parlez avec le Seigneur de ce que vous avez lu. Parlez-lui de vos préoccupations pour vous-même, votre famille, notre famille de l’église, notre monde. Louez-le. Priez la collecte pour la semaine. Voyez les pages suivantes Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur ! Que tout qui est en moi bénisse son saint nom. Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur, et n’oublie aucun de ses bienfaits !

08 December 2020

Tuesday 8 December, Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lesser Festival) +++ Holy Mary

 

Psalm 45.10-17│Genesis 3.8-15, 20│Acts 1.12-14│Luke 1.26-38

Psaume 45.10-17 |Genèse 3.8-15, 20 |Actes 1.12-14 |Luc 1.26-38


Holy Mary


'Saget, Father George. Annunciation to Mary' by Father George Saget, 1963, Abbaye de Keur Moussa, Dakar, Senegal

From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56338 [retrieved November 28, 2020]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KeurMoussaAutel.jpg.


And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ (Luke 1.28)

How are we to celebrate the birth of the Word made flesh without glorifying Mary, the ‘Mother of God’? 

Meditate upon this ancient Syriac hymn, contemplating the paradox of the ‘Boundless one’ who cannot be contained by the heavens and is yet contained in Mary’s womb: 

Blessed is she: she has received the Spirit who made her immaculate.

She has become the temple in which dwells the Son of the height of heaven…

Blessed is she: through her the race of Adam has been restored, and those who deserted the Father’s house have been brought back…

Blessed is she: within the bounds of her body she contained the Boundless one who fills the heavens, which cannot contain him.

Blessed is she: in giving our life to the common Ancestor, the Father of Adam, she renewed fallen creatures.

Blessed is she: she gave her womb to him who lets loose the waves of the sea.

Blessed is she: she has born the might giant who sustains the world, she has embraced him and covered him with kisses.

Blessed is she: she has raised up for the prisoners a deliverer who overcame their gaoler.

Blessed is she: her lips have touched him whose blazing made angels of fire recoil.

Blessed is she: she has fed with her milk him who gives life to the whole world.

Blessed is she: for to her Son the saints all owe their happiness.

Blessed be the Holy One of God who has sprung from thee.

James of Sarug (c.449-521 BC)

You might like to listen to the Hymn to the Mother of God, by John Tavener, which is set to a text from the Liturgy of St Basil. It speaks of the almost cosmic power attributed to the Mother of God by the Orthodox Church:

In you, O woman full of grace, the angelic choirs and the human race, all creation rejoices. O sanctified temple, mystical paradise, and glory of virgins. In you, O woman full of grace, all creation rejoices. All praise be to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd8J80KeOrE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E_rKYkjSC4

Jonathan Halliwell

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Location: Brussels, Belgium

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