“When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labou r on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Jesus went (back) to the Mount of Olives.

Then, in the early morning, he came again to the Temple and all the people came to him, and having sat down he taught them.

Then the scribes and Pharisees led (to him) a woman,
having been caught in adultery
and put her in the middle.

They said to him:
‘Teacher, this woman, was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In the Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’

(They said this to test him, so that they could accuse him).

But Jesus when he had bent down,
he wrote with his finger in the dirt.

As they persisted in questioning him,
he stood up straight, and said to them:
‘Let the sinless one among you, throw a stone first, at her.

And again he when had bent down,
he wrote in the dirt.

Now those who heard this went out one after another,
beginning with the oldest and
he was left alone,
and she was in the middle.

Then Jesus stood up straight and said to her
‘Lady, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’

Then she said ‘No one, Lord’.

Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either.
Go and from now on sin no longer.’

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

Love never falls.
But if there are prophecies
        they will be brought to an end
if there are tongues,
        they will stop
if there is knowledge
        it will be brought to an end
For we know ‘part by part’
and we prophesy ‘part by part’
When the whole comes
   the partial will be brought to an end. 
When I was a child,
   I used to speak as a child, 
   I used to form opinions as a child
    I used to think as a child 
When I  became an adult
    we did away with things of a child.

Just now we see in a mirror a reflected image
but then face to face.
Just now I know in part by part
Then I shall come to fully know as I have been fully known. 

So now 
faith, hope love
– these three things remain.
And the greatest of these is love. 

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Love waits patiently
shows kindness
Love does not burn with envy
does not brag
does puff itself up
does not act in rude ways
does not self-serve
does not become exasperated
does not keep a count of evil l
does not rejoiced at wrong doing
but (love)
rejoices at the truth
supports all things
believes all things
hopes all things
endures all things

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

If with the tongues of humans
       I were to speak 
or even angels
but love
       I do not have
I have become
       a resounding brass (jar?)
       or a clanging cymbal
and 
if I were to have (the gift) of  prophecy
       and even to understand all the mysteries
              and every knowledge
and
if I have all faith
       so as to move mountains
but love I do not have
I am nothing

and even if I have given away all my possessions
and if I given my body over to be burned
but love I do not have
I gain nothing. 

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

Now, you all are the body of Christ
and limbs /organs
each for their part.

And some God placed in the church
first apostles
second prophets
third teachers
then miracles,
then gifts of healing
helping
guiding
kinds of tongues

Not all are apostles, are they?
Not all are prophets, are they?
Not all are teachers, are they?
Not all work miracles, do they?
Not all have gifts of healing, do they?
Not all speak with tongues, do they?
Not all interpret do they?

Nonetheless strive for the greater g ifts.

And yet I will show you a more excellent way.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And the eye cannot say to the hand

‘I have no need of you’

or again the head to the feet

‘I have no need of you’.

But, in particular,  the ‘limbs and organs’ of the body which are deemed less gifted with prestige

are essential.

And those (parts) of the body which we deem more dishonorable

we treat with greater honour

and our unpresentable parts

are clothed with greater modesty.

But our presentable parts have no need (of this)

but God put together the body

 by giving greater honour to the lesser part

so that there might not be division in the body

but the members might have the same concern 

for one another.

So if one ‘limb or organ’ suffers

all the limbs and organs suffers together

So if one limb/organ is celebrated (glorified)

all the limbs and organs share in the praise. 

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

If the foot said

‘I am not a hand

I am not (a part) of the body, 

is it 

for this reason {i.e. having said the above}

not (a part) of the body?

And if the ear said

‘I am not an eye
I am not (part) of the body’

is it  

for this reason

not (a part) of the body?

If the whole body was an eye, 

where is hearing?

If the whole (body) was an ear

where is smelling?

But as it is

God put ‘limbs and organs’ 

each of them

in the body

just as he chose.

For if all of them were one ‘limb and organ’

where would the body be?

But as it is

(there are) many limbs and organs

but one body. 

If the foot said

‘I am not a hand

I am not (a part) of the body, 

is it 

for this reason {i.e. having said the above}

not (a part) of the body?

And if the ear said

‘I am not an eye
I am not (part) of the body’

is it not

for this reason

not (a part) of the body?

If the whole body was an eye, 

where is hearing?

If the whole (body) was an ear

where is smelling?

But as it is

God put ‘limbs and organs’ 

each of them

in the body

just as he chose.

For if all of them were one ‘limb and organ’

where would the body be?

But as it is

(there are) many limbs and organs

but one body. 

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)

For just as the body is one –
and it has many ‘limbs and organs’
and all the ‘limbs and organs’ of the body
(being many)
are one body
– so also (it is in the case of) Christ.

For also
by one Spirit
we all were baptized
into one body
whether Jews
or Greeks,
whether slaves
or free,
we were made to drink
of the one Spirit.

For also
the body is not one ‘limb or organ’ but many.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

For to one person through the Spirit is given speech of wisdom,
to another speech of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit,
but to another gifts of healings by the one Spirit
then to another working of miracles
to another prophecy
to another discernment of spirits
to another kinds of tongues
but to another translation of tongues.

Now the one and same Spirit
works all these things,
distributing to each as he decides to each person.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great