Daily Primer — May 29
Each day you will be given:
A Florilegium entry
A Daily Prayer
and a Night Prayer.
A Florilegium entry
A Daily Prayer
and a Night Prayer.
"Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish for no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve and with boundless confidence. For you are my Father."
do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish for no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve and with boundless confidence. For you are my Father."
Charles De Foucault — Foucauld did not write it quite as it is appears now: it was taken from a larger meditation, written in 1896, in which he sought to join with the prayer of Jesus on the cross. [c.f. Psalm 31:5; Luke 23:46]
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, you are the resurrection and the life: yours is the life worth having, the life that really is life, the life which persists beyond every deadly moment. Though I know that with you all things are possible, I often side with Martha and Mary in the hours of tribulation and assume that death is the final chapter of life. Show me again the power of your love which raised Lazarus from his deathly tomb.
Lord God, on this fifth day of the week I offer my glad praise and thanksgiving for the sea and all its creatures. I join the Psalmist in wonder at a sea swarming with creatures beyond number. On this island, surrounded by the sea, I am more mindful than ever of the vastness of your oceans, the depths of your waters. Today, whether I walk on dry land or sail upon the waves, may I marvel joyfully in your creation — you whom saint Columba called “Lord of the elements.”
Preserve me this day from the sin of gluttony — both from the impulse to eat and drink more than I need, and also from that peculiar form of gluttony which finds expression in the insistence that I receive my food precisely when I want it and prepared precisely as I imagined it should be.
Give me the virtue of Temperance and self-control. Teach me to enjoy pleasures well by taking them in moderation. Help me not only to perform good acts for the right reasons, but more, may I desire to do them.
I am attentive, Lord, keeping vigil for you - for I expect to encounter you in all the most unlikely places. For my part I vow to keep you ever before my eyes today, and I ask that you would bless me by showing me those things you desire me to see. All this I pray in the name of my resurrected Lord, who is himself the resurrection and the life. Amen.
Lord God, on this fifth day of the week I offer my glad praise and thanksgiving for the sea and all its creatures. I join the Psalmist in wonder at a sea swarming with creatures beyond number. On this island, surrounded by the sea, I am more mindful than ever of the vastness of your oceans, the depths of your waters. Today, whether I walk on dry land or sail upon the waves, may I marvel joyfully in your creation — you whom saint Columba called “Lord of the elements.”
Preserve me this day from the sin of gluttony — both from the impulse to eat and drink more than I need, and also from that peculiar form of gluttony which finds expression in the insistence that I receive my food precisely when I want it and prepared precisely as I imagined it should be.
Give me the virtue of Temperance and self-control. Teach me to enjoy pleasures well by taking them in moderation. Help me not only to perform good acts for the right reasons, but more, may I desire to do them.
I am attentive, Lord, keeping vigil for you - for I expect to encounter you in all the most unlikely places. For my part I vow to keep you ever before my eyes today, and I ask that you would bless me by showing me those things you desire me to see. All this I pray in the name of my resurrected Lord, who is himself the resurrection and the life. Amen.
Psalm 51:15; Lamentations 3:22-23; John 11:25-44; Genesis 1:20-23. From Liturgy of the Hours - PHL.
A Prayer of Saint Columba
“Let me bless Almighty God,
whose power extends over sea and land,
whose angels watch over all.
Let me study sacred books to calm my soul;
I pray for peace, kneeling at heaven’s gates.
Let me do my daily work, gathering seaweed,
catching fish, giving food to the poor.
Let me say my daily prayers, sometimes chanting,
sometimes quiet, always thanking God.
Delightful it is to live on a peaceful Island,
in a quiet cell, serving the King of kings.”
“Let me bless Almighty God,
whose power extends over sea and land,
whose angels watch over all.
Let me study sacred books to calm my soul;
I pray for peace, kneeling at heaven’s gates.
Let me do my daily work, gathering seaweed,
catching fish, giving food to the poor.
Let me say my daily prayers, sometimes chanting,
sometimes quiet, always thanking God.
Delightful it is to live on a peaceful Island,
in a quiet cell, serving the King of kings.”
Van de Weyer, ed. p.64 Celtic Fire: the Passionate Religious Vision of Ancient Britain and Ireland.