fear

I believe, help my unbelief

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
praying man by Ruth Mabee
 
 
Lord, I want to love you, yet I’m not sure.
    I want to trust you, yet I’m afraid of being taken in.
    I know I need you, yet I’m ashamed of the need.
    I want to pray, yet I’m afraid of being a hypocrite.
    I need my independence, yet I fear to be alone.
    I want to belong, yet I must be myself.
    Take me, Lord, yet leave me alone.
    Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief.
O Lord, if you are there, you do understand, don’t you?
Give me what I need but leave me free to choose.
Help me work it out my own way, but don’t let me despair.
    Come unto me, O Lord – I want you there.
    Lighten my darkness – but don’t dazzle me.
    Help me to see what I need to do and give me strength to do it.
O Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.
 
Bernard SSF, 1928-2007
 
______________________
 
 
And they brought the boy to him. 
And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, 
    and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 
And Jesus asked his father, 
    “How long has this been happening to him?” 
And he said, “From childhood. 
    And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. 
    But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 
And Jesus said to him, 
    “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 
    “I believe; help my unbelief!” 

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Reveal yourself to us

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Fresco from the great Cloister of Santa Maria Novella in Florence / Lawrence OP
 
 
O Christ, the brightness of God’s glory 
    and express image of his person,
    whom death could not conquer,
    nor the tomb imprison;
  as you have shared our mortal frailty in the flesh,
    help us to share your immortal triumph in the spirit.
Let no shadow of the grave affright us 
    and no fear of darkness turn our hearts from you.
Reveal yourself to us as the first and the last,
    the Living One, our immortal Savior and Lord.
Amen,
 
Henry Van Dyke, 1852 – 1933, American diplomat and Presbyterian clergyman
 
_____________________
 
 
As they were talking about these things, 
Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, 
    “Peace to you!” 
But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 
And he said to them, 
    “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
     See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. 
     Touch me, and see. 
     For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
 

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Holy Spirit, make us whole

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image
O Holy Spirit, who delves into all things,
    even the deep things of God and the deep things of man,
    we ask you to penetrate the springs of personality 
        of all who are sick in mind, 
        to bring them cleansing, healing, and unity.
Sanctify all memory, dispel all fear, 
    bring them to love you with all their mind and will,
    that they may be made whole 
    and glorify you forever.
Give special skills and tender hearts to all who care for them,
    and show them how best to assist in your work of healing and wholeness.
    through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
George Appleton (1902-1993) & Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926-) Anglican Bishops
 
______________________________
 
 
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. 
Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

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to you I commit my trust

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Duccio di Buoninsegna / Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
 
Loving and tender providence of my God,
    into your hands I commend my spirit;
 to you I abandon my hopes and fears,
    my desires and repugnancies,
    my temporal and eternal prospects.
To you I commit the wants of my perishable body;
 to you I commit the more precious interests
    of my immortal soul
    for whose lot I have nothing to fear
    as long as I do not leave your care.
Though my faults are many, 
    my misery great,
    my spiritual poverty extreme,
        my hope in you surpasses all.
It is superior to my weakness,
    greater than my difficulties
    stronger than death.
Though temptations should assail me,
    I will hope in you;
 though I break my resolutions,
    I will look to you confidently
        for grace to keep them at last.
Though you should ask me to die,
    even then I will trust in you,
    for you are my Father, my God,
    the support of my salvation.
You are my kind, compassionate and indulgent parent,
    and I am your devoted son,
    who casts myself into your arms and begs your blessing.
I put my trust in you,
    and so trusting, shall not be confounded. Amen.
 
St. Claude de la Colombière, 1641-1682, French Jesuit priest and ascetic
_________________________
 
 
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
    In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

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Praise to you, saving sacrifice

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Twelfth Station / Tango7174 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
I approach your banquet table
    in fear and trembling,
    for I am a sinner,
    and dare not rely on my own worth
    but only on your goodness and mercy. . . .
Praise to you, saving sacrifice,
    offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind.
Praise to the noble and precious blood,
    flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ
    and washing away the sins of the whole world.
Remember, Lord, your creature,
    whom you have redeemed with your blood.
 
John of Fecamp, 1028-1078, Benedictine spiritual writer
 
_______________________
 
 
And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, 
    he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 
For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son 
    while we were still his enemies, 
    we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

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