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have mercy and cleanse me

/ 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
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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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May we encounter You today

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Harold Copping / Wikimedia Commons
 
Loving God, our faithful father, you who created us in your image and likeness, and are willing to meet with us here, as market vendors, barbers, mothers and fathers.
 
We confess that in our sweat and toil, we often forget your presence.  In our struggles and weariness and frustration we are often lukewarm.  Forgive us.
 
Tabernacle with us.
We need you now more than ever.  Drained of strength and energy we come, that we might be re-energized and filled.
 
So come Lord. Come as the wind, blow your breath gently over us, blow the dust off our lives. Come as the fire, burn out all the hate and anger we feel towards those who oppress us and treat us unfairly.  Come as the water, wash the dirt of poverty off our stalls, the marketplace, and our lives.
 
Come as the dove – settle all matters concerning us.  Let peace reign.
 
May we encounter you today.  Ignite our hearts to worship and serve you.  Take your place and rule and reign in Jesus’s name as we leave our struggle at the foot of the cross and liberate us to worship you. Amen.
 
complied by Claudio Carvalhaes, professor of worship in New York City
 
_________________________
 
 
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.

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to not undervalue ourselves

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 Parable of the Talents / A.N. Mironov / CC BY-SA 4.0 
Eternal and most glorious God,
who hast stamped the soul of man with thine Image,
received it into thy Revenue,
and made it part of thy Treasure;
suffer us not to undervalue ourselves,
nay, so to impoverish thee
as to give away these souls for nothing,
and all the world is nothing
if the soul must be given for it.
Do this, O God,
for his sake who knows our natural infirmities,
for he had them,
and knows the weight of our sins,
for he paid a dear price for them,
thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
John Donne, 1572 – 1631, English poet, satirist, lawyer and priest
 
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Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
 
 
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

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