• The Crucifix Prayer

    Blessed are you, Lord God,
    Father all-holy,
    for your boundless love
    The tree, once the source of shame
    and death for humankind,
    has become the cross
    of our redemption and life.

    When his hour had come to
    return to you in glory,
    the Lord Jesus,
    Our King, our Priest, and our Teacher,
    freely mounted the scaffold of the cross
    and made it his royal throne,
    his altar of sacrifice, his pulpit of truth.

    On the cross,
    lifted above the earth,
    he triumphed over our age-old enemy.
    Cloaked in his own blood,
    he drew all things to himself.

    On the cross,
    he opened out his arms
    and offered you his life;
    the sacrifice of the New Law
    that gives to the sacraments
    their saving power.

    On the cross,
    he proved what he had prophesied:
    the grain of wheat must die
    to bring forth an abundant harvest.

    Father,
    we honour this cross as the sign
    of our redemption.
    May we reap the harvest of salvation
    planted in pain by Christ Jesus.
    May our sins be nailed to his cross,
    the power of life released,
    pride conquered,
    and weakness turned to strength.

    May the cross be our comfort in trouble,
    our refuge in the face of danger,
    our safeguard on life’s journey
    until you welcome us to
    our heavenly home.

    Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  • The Prayer of St. Ephrem

    {Making a prostration}

    O LORD, Master of my life,
    grant that I may not be infected with the
    spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness,
    with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

    {Making a prostration}

    Grant instead to me, your servant,
    the spirit of purity and of humility,
    the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

    {Making a third prostration}

    O Lord and King,
    grant me the grace of being aware of my sins
    and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren.
    For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.

    Amen.

    Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings,
    You have power over life and death.
    You know what is secret and hidden,
    and neither our thoughts nor our feelings
    are concealed from You.
    Cure me of duplicity;
    I have done evil before You.
    Now my life declines from day to day
    and my sins increase.
    O Lord, God of souls and bodies,
    You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh.
    Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
    and sustain me in my misery.
    Give me a grateful soul that I may
    never cease to recall Your benefits,
    O Lord most bountiful.
    Be not mindful of my many sins,
    but forgive me all my misdeeds.
    O Lord, disdain not my prayer –
    the prayer of a wretched sinner;
    sustain me with Your grace until the end,
    that it may protect me as in the past.
    It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom;
    blessed are they who follow her ways,
    for they shall receive the crown of glory.
    In spite of my unworthiness,
    I praise You and I glorify You,
    O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit.
    You have been my help and my protection.
    May the name of Your majesty be praised forever.
    To you, our God, be glory.
    Amen.

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  • PWJ: S4E103 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 2)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 2 of that Finale. Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/X4zq7Uk69KmYo1v3A

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  • PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

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  • PWJ: S4E101 – Bonus – “Jack vs Tollers”

    After the previously-planned interview fell through at the last minute, David sat down to record a solo episode to talk about his newborn son, Sidecar Day, blue flowers in Narnia, and also to make his tongue-in-cheek case as to why C.S. Lewis is better than J.R.R. Tolkien.

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  • PWJ: S4E100 – AH – “After Hours” with The Gray Havens

    The Gray Havens are an American Christian folk pop husband and wife duo, David and Licia Radford, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. On October 8th they will be releasing their new album, Blue Flower, so David Radford came on the show to talk to Andrew and David about how C.S. Lewis inspired their recent work.

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  • PWJ: S4E99 – AH – “After Hours” with Mike “Gomer” Gormley

    As we approach the end of Season 4, David is joined on the show by Michael “Gomer” Gormley. Among other things, they discuss Ted Lasso, tea, and the Atonement. Also, find out what Gomer would do if he ever became the Pope!

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  • PWJ: S4E98 – AH – “After Hours” with Patti Callahan

    New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan, returns to the show to talk about her forthcoming book, “Once Upon A Wardrobe”, which will be released on October 19th.

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  • PWJ: S4E97 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

    A few months ago, John and Greta from The Tolkien Road podcast did a series of episodes on religion in Tolkien’s Legendarium. David invited him onto the show to talk about those episodes and to encourage the Pints With Jack listeners to listen to them.

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  • PWJ: S4E96 – AH – “After Hours” with Rod Bennett

    Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.

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Sparrow

You know, there’s a reason why this blog’s theme tune is a song written by Audrey Assad…

The original lyrics for this song were written by Civilla Martin. The sparrow referred to in the song is a reference to Jesus’ teaching recorded in Matthew’s Gospel:

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?…Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows”- Matthew 6:26; 10:29-31

I came across a moving description by the author concerning the song’s inspiration:

“Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.

One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”

The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” was the outcome of that experience” – Civilla Martin

My Godson’s Birthday

Today is my Godson’s birthday so I thought I’d do a little bit of a giveaway to mark the occasion. The prize up for grabs is a signed copy of Getting Started In Apologetics by the very excellent Patrick Coffin.

Entering is easy. Simply leave a comment below, together with the text of your favourite prayer (I’m always on the lookout for new ones!).

At the end of the month I will then use a random number generator to pick the winner and then mail out the CDs.

Good luck!

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Liturgy of St. James

St James Below is the text that we will be studying in JP2 on Thursday. It is an abridged form of the ancient Liturgy of St. James. This version of it comes from around the 4th Century.

This is the oldest Eucharistic liturgy still in use today. It was also the blueprint used for the Liturgy of St. Basil and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, both of which are regularly used among Byzantine Catholics and Eastern Orthodox today. 

Petitions

Priest: Peace be with you.

People: And with your spirit.

Priest: The Lord bless us all, and sanctify us for the…celebration of the divine and pure mysteries…  Amen.

Deacon: In peace let us pray to the Lord. For the peace that is from on high, and for God’s love to man, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord. For peace in the whole world, for the unity of all the holy churches of God, let us pray to the Lord. For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, … and distress…, let us pray to the Lord.

Singers: Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.

Priest: O compassionate and merciful, patient, gracious, and true God…hear us. Deliver us from every temptation of the devil and man… For we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us. But you are able, Lord, to save us… Because you are holy, Lord our God, … we send up the praise and the thrice-holy hymn to you, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, and for all eternity.

People: Amen.

Priest: Peace be with you.

People: And with your spirit.

Singers: Alleluia.

[The liturgy proceeds with readings from the Old and New Testaments]

Deacon: Let us all say: Lord, have mercy.

Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers: We beseech you, hear us. For peace from on high, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord… For the people standing and waiting for the rich and bountiful mercy that comes from you, we beseech you, be merciful and gracious.

Save your people, O Lord, and bless your inheritance. Visit your world with mercy and compassion. Exalt the horn of Christians by the power of the precious and life-giving cross. We beseech you, most merciful Lord, hear our prayer, and have mercy upon us.

People: Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

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Meeting Angst

Last week we had a meeting of the Young Adult Commission. At these meetings we go over the current Young Adult initiatives in the Diocese and plan the new events for the months ahead.

Highs

At these meetings I’m often inspired. It’s encouraging to be with other Young Adult leaders who are passionate about what they’re doing. It’s great to feed off one another’s energy and catch a vision of “what could be…”.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

At last week’s meeting we came up with some superb ideas. Let me tell you, there’s some really good stuff in the pipeline for this summer…

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Resolution Update

Okaaaaay….it’s new resolution update time…

1. Read through the New Testament Twice
My reading has been too irregular.

2. More dancing
Meh

3. Be more gentle with people
Some successes and failures

4. No sodas/fizzy drinks
21 days clean 🙂

5. Get into the best shape of my life
Boot camp still going well

6. Complete reading list
Over half way through The Church And The New Media and loving it 🙂

7. Keep proper track of finances
Mostly good

8. Tick something off my TODO list
My mirror is covered with crossed-off items!

10. Fast on Wednesday and Friday
Halo is nice and shiny

11. Give up Facebook for 40 days
Will be doing this in March.

12. Make an effort to dress well for Mass
Looking swanky 🙂

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