Dan had to do a wedding tonight, so he's asked me to fill in on our regular Sunday night community prayer* thread. All who come in peace are welcome, whatever tradition (including "None of the above") they may follow.
So let us gather below the fold in prayer*
(*meditation, good and active thought)
This is the first day of October,
- in the Year of Our Lord two thousand and six, being the four thousand nine hundred and sixty-third year after the Flood;
- being the four thousand and twenty-first year from the birth of Abraham;
- being the three thousand five hundred and sixteenth year from Moses and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;
- being the three thousand and thirty-eighth year from the anointing of King David;
- being the month of Βοηδρομιών, in the third year of the six hundred and forty-sixth Olympiad;
- being the rashi of Kanya, the time of the monsoon, in this the Year of the Rooster, which is the one hundred and sixty-third year of the Baha'i Era;
- being the ninth day of Tishri (and thus the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement) in the five thousand seven hundred and sixty-seventh year of the Hebrew calendar;
- being the eighth day of Ramadan, the month of fasting, in the one thousand four hundred and twenty-seventh year since the hijra of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace and blessings);
- being the Kalends of October in the two thousand seven hundred and sixtieth year from the foundation of the City of Rome, and the two hundred thirtieth year of American independence.
This Sunday occupies some crowded space on the calendar. The autumnal equinox or the sabbat of Mabon was just eight days ago; Ramadan started six days ago; Rosh Hashanah was a week ago; Yom Kippur and the feast of the Guardian Angels are tomorrow, followed by the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Wednesday, and the Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival on Friday.
As we were preparing to sing the entrance hymn at Mass this morning (titled "All Are Welcome"), my friend Andrea leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I hate this song. I mean, I love the sentiment: I just wish it were true." Here, it is true; hence the multiplicity of calendars and systems of marking time that I quoted in the opening (adapted, by the way, from the traditional proclamation of the date of Christmas found in the Roman Martyrology).
Welcome to all who come here in peace. I'll start our prayer (*meditation, holding in good and active thought) this evening with a psalm from Edward Hays:
Psalm of the Name of the Holy Power
Help me, my God,
whenever I begin a new task,
when stumped with a problem,
when stalled in my work,
when faced with weakness,
to pray
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Power.
I call upon the Holy Power of Kindness
when I am tempted to be rude.
I call upon the name of God's Powerful Strength
when I am tempted to be weak.
I call upon the name of God's Great Creativity
when I am tempted to copy
or to fall back upon a tired, old solution.
For great is the name of the Holy Power,
rushing like a whirlwind
to shape the primal chaos into order,
creating life throughout the universe.
Powerful beyond all the powers of Earth
is the fire of God's Spirit,
whose flaming heat forges heroes and heroines
out of timid, hiding cowards,
boiling listless, lukewarm spirits
into churning steam engines of energy.
In the name of the creative Holy Power,
I pray:
Come! Amen.
--Edward Hays, Psalms for Zero Gravity: Prayers for Life's Emigrants
For our Jewish brothers and sisters, may the final seal be for good, and may their fasting tomorrow be light and bring them true repentance and a good inscription.
For our Muslim brothers and sisters, let them be this month from among those who turn, repentant, and ask forgiveness for their sins; let them be from those who do good and obey God; let them be from among those who are God's close friends, through the kindness of God the Merciful and Compassionate.
And in anticipation of St. Francis's day, I'll close with this short prayer from Albert Schweitzer:
O Heavenly Father,
protect and bless all things that have breath.
Guard them from all evil,
and let them sleep in peace.
For what else shall we pray (*meditate, hold in good and active thought) tonight?