enlighten us to see the beam

April 4, 2025April 3, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Parable of the Mote and the Beam, Domenico Fetti, via Wikimedia Commons

Lord, enlighten us to see the beam that is in our own eye,
and blind us to the mote that is in our brother’s.
Let us feel our offences with our hands,
make them great and bright before us like the sun,
make us eat them and drink them for our diet.
Blind us to the offences of our beloved,
cleanse them from our memories,
take them out of our mouths forever.
Help us at the same time with the grace of courage,
that none of us be cast down when we sit lamenting
amid the ruins of our happiness or our integrity:
Touch us with fire from the altar,
that we may be up and doing to rebuild our city.

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894, Scottish Novelist, published by his wife
The HarperCollins Book of Prayers

Matthew 7:3-4

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye,

but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother,

‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’

when there is the log in your own eye?

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wash me with your tears

March 28, 2025December 3, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Jesus Wept by Daniel Bonnell

Lord, we show you our wounds so that you may heal us.

And even if we do not, you know,

and you wait to hear our voice.

Do away our scars by tears,

like the woman in the gospel who washed your feet with hers.

You know how to help the weak,

when there is no one who can prepare the feast,

or bring the ointment,

or carry along a spring of living water.

You come yourself to the grave.

So come to this grave of mine, Lord Jesus,

that you would wash me with your tears.

With my dry eyes I have no such tears

as to be able to wash away my offenses.

With your tears I will be saved, if I am worthy of your tears.

With them you will call me out of the tomb of this body and say,

“Come forth.”

Then my thoughts will not be kept pent up

in the narrow limits of this body,

but may go forth to you, and move to the light,

that I may think no more on the works of darkness,

but on the works of light.

Ambrose of Milan, c.339-397, Bishop of Milan

Fount of Heaven Prayers of the Early Church

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John 11:33-36, 43-44

When Jesus saw her weeping,

and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping,

he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out,

his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen,

and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them,

“Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

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forgiveness that recreates

July 19, 2024July 18, 2024 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image, Rebecca Kennison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jesus’ prayer was, ‘Father, forgive them,

they know not what they do.’

A prayer born in death, writhing with pain.

A prayer risking faith, facing the sorrow.

A prayer living in hope, seeing the future.

My prayer was, ‘God, how can I forgive them?

They do know what they did.’

A prayer saying, ‘ It still hurts.’

A prayer wanting vengeance.

A prayer seeking direction.

My prayer became, ‘God, help me forgive them;

they know what they did.’

A prayer saying, ‘They were wrong.

A prayer wanting reconciliation.

A prayer seeing courage.

My prayer became, ‘God, forgive them;

they know what they did.’

A prayer that wrestled with injustice.

A prayer that acknowledges weakness.

A prayer that found hope in God’s love.

My prayer remains, ‘God, forgive them;

they know what they did.’

Because forgiveness recreates life from death.

Because forgiveness cleanses the healing wound.

Because forgiveness builds the bridge of freedom.

Jared P. Pingleton, Christian psychologist, author, and speaker

Celtic Daily Prayer

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Matthew 18:18-19

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask,

it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

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have mercy and cleanse me

February 29, 2024February 29, 2024 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

photo by Zeynep Yilmaz via pexels

Have mercy on me, O life-giver, through your goodness.

In your great tenderness soothe away my faults.

Cleanse me of my guilt,

do not hold my failures against me.

For I have come to see that I fail you,

when I have not acknowledged with my whole being

that I am made truly in your image;

in not walking in your ways I have sinned against you.

You are love and truth itself

and seek sincerity of heart;

teach me the secrets of wisdom.

Cleanse me from all that prevents me

from listening to your word.

Ianthe Pratt, organizer of Catholic women’s activities in London

The Book of a Thousand Prayers

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Psalm 51:1-7

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

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expel the devil from this man

October 31, 2023October 30, 2023 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

O Lord, holy Father,

almighty and eternal God,

expel the devil

and the paganism from this man,

from his head, from his hair,

from his brain, from his back,

from his front, from his eyes,

from his ears, from his nostrils,

from his lips, from his mouth,

from his tongue, from under his tongue,

from his jaws, from his throat,

from his neck, from his heart,

from his whole body, from all of his members,

from inside and the outside of him,

from his bones, from his veins,

from his nerves, from his blood,

from his senses, from his thoughts,

from his words, from all his works,

from his strength,

from all manner of conversation,

for this, and in the life to come,.

But may the power of Christ, our mediator,

work in you, that we may attain life eternal,

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, Amen.

Antiphonary of Bangor, Prayer over a Person who has a Devil, #96

Prayers from the Ancient Celtic Church

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Matthew 10:1

And he called to him his twelve disciples

and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out,

and to heal every disease and every affliction.

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We seem to give back the dead to you . . .

March 25, 2022March 24, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

We seem to give back the dead to you, Lord,

who gave them to us.

But as you did not lose them in giving,

so do we not lose them by their return.

Not as the world gives do you give, O lover of souls.

What you give you do not take away,

for what is yours is ours if we are yours.

And life is eternal and love is immortal,

and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing,

save the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, strong Son of God,

that we may see further;

cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly;

draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves

to be nearer to our loved ones who are with you.

And while you prepare a place for us,

prepare us also for that happy place,

that where you are we may be also,

for ever, and ever. Amen.

Rossiter W. Raymond, 1840-1918, American mining engineer, scholar and writer

2000 Years of Prayer

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John 14:1-3

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God; believe also in me.

My Father’s house has many rooms;

if that were not so,

would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me

that you also may be where I am.

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But I confess that you are God

April 8, 2021April 7, 2021 / Eric Mathews / 3 Comments

_{image / Lawrence OP / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0}

With all my heart I worship you, O hidden God.

You who hide yourself behind the things of your creation.

My heart submits to you, and so does my mind.

Compared with contemplating you, all else is nothing.

I cannot touch you, taste you, see you.

All senses are cheated of you – except the ear.

Your Son has spoken, and I believe.

Nothing has truth beyond the word I hear.

On the cross your divinity was hidden,

And now on earth you humanity is hidden,

But I acknowledge you and cry to you.

I do not gaze, like Thomas, on your wounds,

But I confess that you are God.

Give me a stronger faith, a surer hope,

And a deeper love for you, my Lord.

You gave us a memorial of your dying

In the living Bread that gives life to men.

As I eat your bread, may you live in me.

And may I always turn to you for strength.

O Christ, who gave your heart for all men,

Cleanse my sin in your blood which was spilt.

A single drop of it would save the world,

Cleansing every man from his foul guilt.

A veil is over your face, I cannot see you.

I cry to you to show me yourself,

To let me see you face to face.

With that vision my soul will be at peace.

Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian

The HarperCollins Book of Prayers

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John 20:29-31

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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remove anything that separates us

March 10, 2021March 10, 2021 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

I beg of you, my Lord,
to remove anything which separates
me from you, and you from me.
Remove anything that makes me unworthy
of your sight, your control, your discipline;
of your speech and conversation,
of your benevolence and love.
Cast from me every evil
that stands in the way of my seeing you,
hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching you;
fearing and being mindful of you;
knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you;
being conscious of your presence
and, as far as may be, enjoying you.
This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from you. Amen.

Peter Faber, 1506-1546, Jesuit Priest and co-founder of the Society of Jesus
Hearts in Fire Praying with Jesuits

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Hebrews 9:14

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

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