Daily Prayers for January 17
Anthony of Egypt (251 – 356)
Anthony was born in Egypt in the middle of the third century and lost his parents at a young age, inheriting a fair amount of land and wealth. Soon after, when he heard a gospel reading in church prompting him to “go sell what you possess and give to the poor,” he did just that, vowing to dedicate his life thereafter to God. Anthony lived for a time in his native home, pursuing prayerful asceticism. After fifteen years, at the age of thirty-five, he withdrew to the solitude of the desert and began his monastic life of prayer, study, and work. After many years of living in the desert, Anthony remained whole and healthy, and he radiated compassion and joy. He lived to the age of 105 and is remembered as the father of the church’s first monastic movement.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Song “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
Keep our frailty before us, Lord : that we might set our hearts on you.
Psalm 89:47 – 52
Remember, Lord, how short life is : how frail you have made all flesh.
Who can live and not see death? : who can save himself from the power of the grave?
Where, Lord, are your loving-kindnesses of old : which you promised David in your faithfulness?
Remember, Lord, how your servant is mocked : how I carry in my bosom the taunts of many -peoples,
the taunts your enemies have hurled, O Lord : which they hurled at the heels of your anointed.
Blessed be the Lord for evermore! : Amen, I say, Amen.
Keep our frailty before us, Lord : that we might set our hearts on you.
Genesis 11:1 – 9 Galatians 5:16 – 24
Keep our frailty before us, Lord : that we might set our hearts on you.
Abba Anthony wrote, “From our neighbors is life and death. If we gain our brother, we gain God, but if we cause our brother to stumble, we sin against Christ.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, we know that to live by the flesh is death, but to live by the Spirit is life. Still, you have redeemed the flesh of the world through your incarnation. Teach us how to be in the world but not of it. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
