Christ, Our Redeemer, help us stand firm in the safety of your everlasting light and sustain us in the glorification of your works. Wash us clean with your grace, so that we may be released from our obsession with our own egos and our "own story." Fill our hearts with courage and faith so that we may seriously follow the path to holiness and saintliness. Amen.
(Thomas Merton)

1 Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you. 2 Do not hide your face from me on the day of my distress.Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily on the day when I call.
3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. 4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread. 5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin. 6 I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
Psalm 102 - New Revised Standard Version

Readings for today from the Daily Lectionary
(click on underlined link to go directly to the reading)
Isaiah 31:1-9 - Revelation 21:22-22:5 - Luke 1:39-56