For this reason
I bow my knee before the Father,
from whom every family in the heavens and on the earth
is named,
that he might give to you all
according to his rich glory
to be strong with power
through his Spirit
in the inner person,
that Christ might live
through faith
in your hearts
by love
firmly rooted
and well established
that you may be fully able to understand
with all the holy ones
what is the width,
and length
and height
and depth
and so to know
the surpassing-knowledge-love of Christ Jesus
and that you might be filled up
to all the fullness of God.

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

To me,
the least of the least of all the holy ones
has been given the grace
to announce-the-gospel to the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ
and to enlighten everyone
about the plan of the mystery
having been hidden from the ages
in God
who created all things,
so that the multi-faceted wisdom of God
might now be made known
to the rulers and powers
in the heavenly places
through the church
according to the purpose of the ages
which he carried out
in Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
in whom we have confidence and
access
in boldness
through his faith
therefore I ask you
not to become discouraged
because of my tribulations
for you all,
which are your glory .

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

(the mystery)

… that is the Gentiles have become
co-heirs with
one body with
and sharing-with
in the promise
in Christ Jesus
by means of the gospel,

of which
I did became
a servant
according to the gift
which is the grace from God
that was given to me
according to the working of his power

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

For this reason…
I, Paul,
the prisoner of Christ,
on behalf of you
Gentiles,
surely
you have heard of the stewardship
of the grace from God
given to me
for you
that
by means of revelation
the mystery has been made known to me
as I have written before in brief,
in accordance with which
-reading this –
you are able to know
my understanding
of the mystery of Christ
which was not made known in other generations
to (humans)
-as now it has been revealed
to his holy saints and prophets
by the Spirit.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

So then
you are no longer
strangers and foreigners
but you are
fellow-citizens
with the saints
and members of God’s household,
having been built on the foundation
(consisting of) the ‘apostles and prophets’
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone
in whom the whole building
is growing together
into a holy temple
in the Lord
in whom you also
are being built together
into God’s dwelling place
in the Spirit.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

Therefore
  remember
     you ‘gentiles in the flesh’
   called the uncircumcised
      by those called circumcised in the flesh
                  by human hands
  that you were at that time
    apart from Christ
    excluded from the commonwealth of Israel
    and strangers from the covenants of promise
    having no hope
    and without God
     in the world.
 But now in Christ Jesus,
  you
    who were formerly far away
    have been brought near
      by the blood of Christ.

God be in head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.

For,
on the basis of grace
  you are saved,
    through faith.
  And this is not from you,
    (God’s is the gift),
  not from (dependent upon) works,
    so that no-one may boast,
  for we are his handiwork
    because we were created
      in Christ Jesus,
    for the purpose of good works
      which God prepared beforehand
      so that we might walk in them.

Lord God,
your feed us with the living bread from heaven.
You renew our faith
increase our hope
and strengthen our love.
Teach us to hunger for Christ
who is the true and living bread
and live by every word that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

but God
  being rich in mercy,
    because of his great love
    with which he loves us
      and
    although we were dead
    because of our transgressions
made us alive together with Christ
    - by grace you are saved-
and (that is)
    raised together
    and made to sit together in the heavenly places
        in Christ
        so that
            he might show in the coming ages
                the surpassing riches of his grace
                    in kindness
                    towards us
                    in Christ Jesus.

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.

And you,
 although you were dead
   in transgressions and your sins,
      in which you formerly walked
         according to the age of this world
         according to the ruler of the domain of the sky  
            the spirit
               who is at work in the children of disobedience
among whom we all also formerly lived
   in the passions of our flesh
   doing the will of the flesh and (its) thoughts,
   and were by nature children of wrath
and the others…

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.