NIGHT PRAYER: Sunday 9/3

On Sundays, Night Prayer will focus on an element from the day's celebration of Mass. Tonight our prayer comes from a verse in the second reading, "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice..."

 

A living sacrifice?

You want me to offer my body 

    - as a living sacrifice? 

 

I think you might be asking for too much, Lord!

It sounds like you're asking for everything!

 

What's that you say? 

Oh...  

    you are asking for everything...

Well, then...  would it be ok with you

if I did this on an installment plan?

 

Could I offer you all that I am      

    - piece by piece? part by part?

 

Here's what I have in mind,

    something like this...

How about if tonight, I offer you,

in living sacrifice, my voice

with the promise that tomorrow 

    I'll speak the truth all day,

    find a gentle word to offer those who need one,

    speak up in defense of what is right and just,

    sing my praise for all your many gifts,

    finally ask the one I've hurt, "Will you forgive me?"

And how about I find the time this week

to offer, as a living sacrifice, my shoulder:

    to welcome someone's weary head to rest there,

    to lean into the work I do for others,

    to take upon myself what burdens others,

    to accept, with grace and with your help,

        what weighs there, day by day...

        

And then I might have occasion 

to offer as a living sacrifice, my ears:

    to listen, attentively, 

        to a friend who needs to talk,

    to listen with an open mind

        to those I disagree with,

    to listen, in the silence,

        for the whisper of your voice,

    to hear the truth when it rings out,

    to hear the call to justice when it sounds,

    to hear the voice of nature when she sings,

        the shifting rhythms of my ups and downs,

        the lyrics of your wisdom,

            sounding in my thoughts,

        the melody of mercy

            humming deep inside my heart...

And as time goes by, Lord

I'll work on offering you, as a living sacrifice:

    my hands, to serve my neighbor's needs;

    my feet, to walk where you may lead me;

    my heart, to be mended where it's broken;

    my knees, to bend in daily prayer;

    my arms, to embrace someone who needs a hug, 

    my mind, to be shaped by truth and beauty,

    my smile, to heal another's sadness;

    my nose, to inhale scent of grace;

    my lips, to kiss away another's pain,

    my imagination, to magnify the glory

        of your presence in the world...

I'm not sure, Lord, 

    that I can give my all, all at once, 

        a living sacrifice

and so I pray that it's ok for me to offer

    all I am and all I have,

        piece by piece and part by part,

            just one day at a time...

And may this, Lord, be 

    the living sacrifice of my body, 

my spiritual worship,

    holy and pleasing to you...

 

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

I love the musical treasures I find in searching for music for Night Prayer.  Tonight' selection is a contemporary hymn, taken from the Salvation Army Hymnal.  William Himes composed this after his wife was diagosed with terminal cancer. And ya gotta love a hymn whose lyrics include the words, 'right now today!"

 

All That I Am by William Himes

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