Daily Primer — August 13, Iona — Inner Hebrides, Scotland

Prayer Ascribed to Saint Columba

The path I walk, Christ walks it.
May the land in which I am be without sorrow.
May the Trinity protect me wherever I stay,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Bright angels walk with me — dear presence — in every dealing.  
In every dealing I pray them that no one's poison may reach me.
The ninefold people of heaven of holy cloud, the tenth force of the stone earth.
Favourable company, they come with me, so that the Lord may not be angry with me.
May I arrive at every place, may I return home; may the way in which I spend be a way without loss.
May every path before me be smooth, man, woman and child welcome me.
A truly good journey! Well does the fair Lord show us a course, a path.

Florilegium is the Medieval Latin word for bouquet, or more literally flowers (flos, flor-) which are gathered (legere). The word florilegium was used to refer to a compilation of writings, often religious or philosophical. These florilegium are literary flowers—beautiful words/prayers/thoughts I have gathered.  During my sabbatical they will give me something to ponder each day. — PHL.

Lord God, you are the gate: standing at the threshold of our day and inviting us to crossover and follow you.  
You are the door through which we
Find shelter and go out to pasture;  
Cross from rest to labor;
     From stillness to gathering our daily bread.
We confess our inclination to the sin of sloth.  By it we misuse the gifts of shelter and rest as a way of living in the isolating cocoon of idleness in the service of selfish freedom.  We misuse the gift of pasture as a means to uninhibited pursuit of personal satisfaction, because we fear that unless we excel at the competition for goods and influence, we will not get our share.  Save us, Lord, from acedia and strengthen in us the virtue of fortitude.
In the presence of all the things which can make life hard —
teach us patience,
teach us resilience,
teach us perseverance in the pursuit of what is good and right.
Let us not grow weary in doing what is right.  Teach us, Lord, to know when our trials and suffering can be avoided and when they are unavoidable and require fortitude.
On this day you created a dome to separate the water from the sky — a bubble where life might thrive even while surrounded by chaos.  We praise you for the grace and genius of creation and offer ourselves as servants working with you to maintain the expanse you established as an enclave for life to flourish.
We pray not only for ourselves but also for a world trapped in the extremes of despairing sloth on the one hand and an over-eager participation in the rat-race of accumulation on the other.
Teach us all, Lord, that when both our place of rest and our place of productivity are found in you that there is a new kind of freedom and fruitfulness borne of the Spirit which begins to govern our life.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Bless to me, O God, the moon that is above me,
Bless to me, O God, the earth that is beneath me,
Bless to me, O God, my spouse and my children,
And bless, O God, myself who have care of them;
Bless to me my spouse and my children,
And bless, O God, myself who have care of them.

Bless, O God, the thing on which mine eye doth rest,
Bless, O God, the thing on which my hope doth rest,
Bless, O God, my reason and my purpose,
Bless, O bless Thou them, Thou God of life;
Bless, O God, my reason and my purpose,
Bless, O bless Thou them, Thou God of life.

Bless to me the bed-companion of my love,
Bless to me the handling of my hands,
Bless, O bless Thou to me,
O God, the fencing of my defense,
And bless, O bless, Thou to me,
O God, the fencing of my defense,
And bless, O bless to me the angeling of my rest.