Heart thread - 05/22/2009

I ask your prayers for Jane R's godson Robbie, who was assaulted and robbed yesterday and now has a bruised face and broken leg. For swift healing of body and spirit after this unfortunate accident.

For Doxy and Dear Friend who are getting hitched mañana.

The lovely bride

Most gracious God, we give you thanks for your tender love in sending Jesus Christ to come among us, to be born of a human mother, and to make the way of the cross to be the way of life. We thank you, also, for consecrating the union of man and woman in his Name. By the power of your Holy Spirit, pour out the abundance of your blessing upon this man and this woman. Defend them from every enemy. Lead them into all peace. Let their love for each other be a seal upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a crown upon their foreheads. Bless them in their work and in their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death. Finally, in your mercy, bring them to that table where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

For students working on their papers and dissertations (and hippie rockers on sabbatical).

And all those whose requests are scattered across the blogosphere and in your hearts right now.

The practice of the Jesus Prayer is simple. Stand before the Lord with the attention in the heart, and call to him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” The essential part of this is not in the words but in faith, contrition, and self-surrender to the Lord. With these feelings one can stand before the Lord even without any words, and it will still be prayer.
—Theophan the Recluse, a 19th century Russian master of prayer

--the BB