Therefore,
  my beloved
  and longed for
    sisters/brothers,

          my joy
          and crown
thus
    stand firm in the Lord,
   beloved. 

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.

Be,
with others,
imitators of me
  sisters / brothers
and pay attention
to those who ‘walk’ like this
as you have an example in us.

For many ‘walk’ whom I have often spoken you about
and now
crying
I speak, 
the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction
whose God is their stomach
and they glory in  their shame
they are people whose minds are set on earthly things. 

For our ‘place of citizenship’ exists in the heavens,
from where indeed we eagerly wait as saviour, 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 
who  will transform the body of our lowly state
(in)to sharing the likeness of the body of his glorious state
according to the working of his power
also to subject all things to himself. 

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.

Not that 
already
I have got (this)
nor
already 
have been made mature

but

I press on 
if indeed I can grasp  (it)
because
indeed I have been grasped
by Christ.

Sisters / brothers, 
I myself 
I am not reckoning
to have grasped (it)
but one thing- 

on the one hand
disregarding  the things that are behind
and on the other 
straining for the things that are ahead, 
I am pressing on toward the goal
to the prize of the upward call
of God
in Christ Jesus. 

So whoever is mature
let us think like this. 

And if someone thinks otherwise
God will reveal this to you.  

In any case

whatever we have attained
we must walk in step with.

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

George Herbert

But these very things
    which were profit to me, 
these
   I have reckoned
          for the sake of Christ
     loss. 

But 
more
than that
   I reckon 
all things
   to be loss
          for the sake of the surpassing worth
of  knowledge of  Christ Jesus,
                                      my Lord. 
        for his sake
               I have (willingly) lost all things
               and I reckon them garbage,
   in order that I might gain Christ
   that is be found in him, 
             not having
                 of my own
               a righteousness from the Torah
                but
                    through faith in Christ, 
               the righteousness from God 
           by faith. 
    so that I may know him
that is  the power of his resurrection
              and the sharing of his sufferings
being shaped like him,
      in  his death
if in some way
I may reach the resurrection out from the dead people. 

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

Although I myself also  have confidence in the flesh:
if someone thinks they have confidence in the flesh
I have even more… 

…by circumcision – an eight-dayer
genetically from Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew from Hebrews

in regards to the Torah – a Pharisee, 
in regards to zeal, persecuting the Church
in regards to righteousness in the Torah, being faultless. 

But these things which were profit to me, 
I have reckoned them 
because of Christ
loss.

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

Look out for the dogs,
Look out for the workers who do evil
Look out for those who make incisions 

For we are the circumcision,
-those who worship by the Spirit of God,
    and boast in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. 

Although I myself also  have confidence in the flesh:
if someone thinks they have confidence in the flesh
I have even more…

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

Further, 
my sisters/brothers
rejoice in the Lord. 

To write the same things to you all
is not a something to hesitate over
but something to safeguard you.

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

But I have considered it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus, 
my brother, 
my fellow worker
and my fellow soldier, 
and
your messenger
and (your) minister of my need.

For he was longing for you all
and distressed
because
you heard that he was sick. 
For he was sick near to death.
But God had mercy on him, 
and not only on him
but also on me. 
So that I might not have sorrow on sorrow. 
So I sent him eagerly,
so that seeing him 
you would rejoice again
and I might be without sorrow. 

So welcome him
in the Lord
with fullness of joy
and hold in honour such people
because 
for the work of the Christ
he came close to dying
risking his life
so that he could make up for your inability
to minister to me. 

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)

Now, 
I hope, 
   in the Lord Jesus
to send Timothy
   shortly
to you
so that also I may be cheered up, 
by learning about your affairs,

For I have no one of ‘like soul’ (available)
  who genuinely
  will care about your affairs. 
For all the others pursue their own affairs,, 
not the affairs of Jesus of Christ

But you know his ‘proven-worth’
how 
as a son-for-a-father
he has served
with me, 
for the spread of the Good News. 

Therefore on the one hand
I hope to send this one swiftly
directly when I am clearer about my affairs

and on the other hand
I am confident
in the Lord
that I will be released  shortly.

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

But even if I am poured-out-like-a-drink-offering
    on the ‘sacrificial service’  of your faith,
I rejoice
      and I rejoice with you all
likewise rejoice
and rejoice with me!

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)