All the devotions my bishop requested of me while I was under his care before ordination was to say the daily office, morning prayer and either evening prayer or compline. It's not just the law (in England); it's a good idea (everywhere). Years later when I came under the guidance (once again) of the prior of the Hermitage, he and I discussed the basics of associate membership (amici, y'all, is the preferred style in Italia). Daily prayer, weekly Eucharist, annual retreat. You are already doing it.
And of course you pray for me and I'll pray for you. As we say to each other when we say farewell.
Yes, I will, Robert, and I know you do; you always have.
Which brings us to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, when they asked. It was simple. Not long or elaborate or particularly showy, just the basics.
Praise, putting ourselves in right place in the universe: you are hallowed, and may you be hallowed - here as in the eternity; that is in practice as well as in the immovable verity of God's existence.
May we bring with you the reality of that kingdom into practical realization, and act in accordance with thy will, in all our being, our doing, our lives, public and private.
Sustain us today; it's up to you: we rely on your providence. And we ask for it. We do not demand it as right nor forget that we are the children of thy favor. As are all beings. (We are all on that hazelnut together, in the palm of your hand.)
We have done wrong, been wrong, gone wrong; you can redeem it, as we can redeem our own unworthy attitudes and extend the grace you have shown us to our dealings with others. Save us from the time of trial and temptation, of giving up and doing ill, and pull us out of the pit we dug ourselves.
It is all yours; that we said in the beginning we say again: and what was in the beginning is in the last what lasts. Omega and alpha: the God who gathers us to himself is the God who has sustained us is the God who is redeeming us and making us well, all to be well, as he is the God who made us in the first place.
So we turn to him, him who is without gender, beginning or end: we unworthy worthily redeemed, created, sustained. Platitudes and all.
And beyond, that fearsome truth: he lives.
Psalm 23 Dominus regit me
The LORD is my shepherd; *
therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture, *
and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul, *
and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness for his
Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; *
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table before me in the presence of them
that trouble me; *
thou hast anointed my head with oil,
and my cup shall be full.
Surely thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life; *
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9, KJV)
He himself who was the shepherd - who is the shepherd - bore the pain of sacrificial self-giving, for us.
On the Machair, the open grassy seaside sloping ground on the west side of the isle of Iona, sheep safely graze. Most of the time. They have to watch out for airplanes, using their pasture as an airstrip, and they have to look out for flying golf balls. But they do have the fold, the (in this case) concrete - or stone - enclosure where they can gather and be gathered, safely. Other than that they graze.
O Good Shepherd ...
https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186581-d191342-i103952809-Machair-Isle_of_Iona_The_Hebrides_Scotland.html ("Take a swing at your ball, but try not to hit the grazing sheep...")
