Daily Prayers for June 14
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936)
A towering presence, G. K. Chesterton was an excitable and opinionated man who was also blessed with a sense of humor that has much to offer a world polarized by politics. He passionately critiqued liberals and conservatives, and maintained a lively and genuine friendship with George Bernard Shaw, with whom he disagreed on nearly everything. Chesterton set out to rethink the faith, but laughingly compared his quest to a voyager who set out to find a lost land only to rediscover England. At forty-eight, he formally converted to Catholicism. Amid very serious discourse, he insisted that despair comes not from being weary of suffering but from being weary of joy. He died on this day, and his epitaph describes him as one who helped restore the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects.
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 “Guide My Feet”
May our minds stay fixed on you : the perfecter of our faith.
Psalm 73:1 – 6
Truly, God is good to Israel : to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had nearly slipped : I had almost tripped and fallen;
because I envied the proud : and saw the prosperity of the wicked:
for they suffer no pain : and their bodies are sleek and sound;
in the misfortunes of others they have no share : they are not afflicted as others are;
therefore they wear their pride like a necklace : and wrap their violence about them like a cloak.
May our minds stay fixed on you : the perfecter of our faith.
Deuteronomy 29:16 – 29 Acts 8:1 – 13
May our minds stay fixed on you : the perfecter of our faith.
G. K. Chesterton said, “The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, free us from our self-deception and attune our hearts to your Spirit, that we might remember how you humbled yourself, and learn to serve one another, whatever our disagreements. 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.
