Daily Prayers for March 4

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 “Were You There?”

Be not far from me, O Lord : for you are my strength and my help.

Psalm 22:1 – 6

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? : and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer : by night as well, but I find no rest.

Yet you are the Holy One : enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

Our forefathers put their trust in you : they trusted, and you delivered them.

They cried out to you and were delivered : they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

But as for me, I am a worm and no man : scorned by all and despised by the -people.

Be not far from me, O Lord : for you are my strength and my help.

Genesis 44:18 – 34 Mark 2:1 – 12

Be not far from me, O Lord : for you are my strength and my help.

Thirteenth-century mystic Gertrude of Helfta prayed, “Inscribe with your precious blood, most merciful Lord, your wounds on my heart, that I may read in them both your sufferings and your love.”

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Keep us from self-pity, Lord, and stir us to rise each morning expecting to encounter you and be caught up in your work. 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.