(So that we ourselves boast  
about you
in the churches of God
for  your steadfastness and faith
in all the persecutions and the troubles
which you are enduring. )

…this is evidence of the just judgement of God
to the end that you are declared worthy
 for the kingdom of God
and for which you are suffering, 

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.

Paul and Silavanus and Timothy
  to the church of the Thessalonians
   in God our Father
   and the Lord Jesus Christ, 

grace to you and
peace
from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We ought to give thanks
    to God always
about you,
sisters and brothers,
as is fitting
because
your faith is growing abundantly and
the love of each one of you all
for one another
is increasing.

So that we ourselves boast  about you
in the churches of God
for  your steadfastness and faith
in all the persecutions and the troubles
which you are enduring. 

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.

Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophecy. 
But test everything, 
hold fast to the good.
Shun every kind of evil. 

May the God of peace himself,
make you completely holy , 
and may your whole spirit, soul and body
be kept
entirely blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 

Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 

Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

I charge you, 
before the Lord, to read publicly 
the letter to all the brothers and sisters. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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.

Always be joyful!
Continually pray!
In everything give thanks!
for this is the will of God
          in Christ Jesus 
for you.

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

George Herbert

We implore you
      brothers and sisters,
to respect those
        who work hard among you, 
         and watch over you in the Lord,
        and admonish you,
and consider them with the greatest respect 
        in love 
because of their work. 

Live at peace among yourselves.

We encourage you, brothers and sisters,
to warn the ill-disciplined, 
to encourage the low spirited, 
to help the weak,
and to be patient towards all. 

See that no-one pays back evil for evil,
but always  pursue the good
      for one another,
      and for all. 

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

About times and dates,
sisters and brothers,
you do not need us to write to you, 
for you know very well that the day of the Lord comes like as a thief in the night. 

When they say ‘Peace and security’,
then destruction will come upon them suddenly
as labour pains on a pregnant woman.
and they will certainly not escape.

But you, sisters and brothers,
are not in the darkness,
that the day surprises you like a thief. 
For you all are children of the light and day.

For we are not of the night and darkness. 
So now let us not sleep as the others
but let us  keep aware and be sober

For those who sleep,
    sleep in darkness, 
and those who get drunk
    get drunk at night. 

But who we are of the day are sober
having put on the breastplate of faith and love 
and the helmet of the hope of salvation.
Because God did not appoint us for wrath
but for attaining salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ
who died for us,
 so that whether we are awake or asleep
we may live together with him. 

Therefore encourage one another
and build up each other
just as you are doing. 

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

For this we tell you
by a word of the Lord,
that we
        who are living
        who are remaining until the coming of the Lord,
will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep,
because the Lord himself
      with a command, 
with the  voice of the archangel,
      and the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven
and the dead in Christ
      will rise first. 

Then we
     who are living
     who are remaining
together
     with them
will be swept up in the clouds
    for a meeting with the Lord
    in the air. 
And so we will be with the Lord, always. 

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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

Then, we do not want you to be ignorant,
sisters and brothers, 
about those who are asleep,
so that you do not grieve
as the rest,
who do not have hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, 
just so (we believe) God will bring with him,
-through Jesus-
those who have fallen asleep.

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

Now about ‘love for the brothers and sisters’,
you do not need us to write to you,
you are ‘taught by God’ to love one another. 

For you do the same 
for all the brothers and sisters in the whole of Macedonia.

We encourage  you,
        brothers and sisters,
to overflow even more. 
and to try to live a quiet life
and to mind your own business
and to work with your own hands, 
just as we commanded you.
so that you might walk with decency
      among outsiders
and not have a need of anyone.

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

(Sorry that we also used this prayer yesterday)

For this is the will of God
– your becoming holy- 
that you abstain from sexual immorality,
that each of you to know how to master your own body
in holiness and honour,
not in passionate lust
just as the pagans
who do not know God

not to wrong or take advantage of your brother in this matter, 
because the Lord is the Avenger about all these things,
as we also told you earlier and we emphatically warned you. 

For God has not called us to impurity but to holiness. 
Therefore the one who rejects (him)
is not rejecting humans
but God 
who gives to you his Spirit, who is holy. 

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