Daily Prayers for December 15

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 “Come, Ye Sinners”

Shepherd us, Lord, with your faithful hand : and guide us gently into your land.

Psalm 78:40 – 43

How often the -people disobeyed him in the wilderness : and offended him in the desert!

Again and again they tempted God : and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

They did not remember his power : in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;

how he wrought his signs in Egypt : and his omens in the field of Zoan.

Shepherd us, Lord, with your faithful hand : and guide us gently into your land.

Isaiah 8:16 – 9:1 Matthew 3:1 – 12

Shepherd us, Lord, with your faithful hand : and guide us gently into your land.

Twentieth-century Jesuit Anthony de Mello said, “In the land of the spirit, you cannot walk by the light of someone else’s lamp. You want to borrow mine. I’d rather teach you how to make your own.”

Prayers for Others

Our Father

Try as we might, Lord, we cannot carry the full load of another’s burden. Only you can take on our burdens in a way that frees us to walk upright and confident in our future. Help us learn to trust you even as we continue to lend a hand to others. 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.