Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on The Heart
Great are you, O God, and greatly to be praised. Great is your love as shown in Christ Jesus. We would praise you without ceasing, for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts find no rest until they rest in you. Amen.
Taken from John E. Skoglund and Nancy E. Hall, A New Manual of Worship: New Edition, Judson Press, 1993.
Let us love the Lord God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. Let us love Him with all our understanding, powers, and fortitude. Let us offer to Him our every effort, our every affection, our every desire, and our every emotion. For He has given to us our body and our soul, our whole life.
But by our pride and ingratitude, we have separated ourselves from our loving Creator and Father and become miserable and rotten.
Yet by His mercy to us through Christ alone, He saved us and continually does only good things for us. All grace and glory, all pardon and peace are from the Lord.
Therefore let us desire nothing else except love our Creator and Savior, the one true God, the all and supreme good. Let nothing else cause us delight except the Lord who alone is holy and just, merciful and gentle, delectable and sweet.
Let nothing hinder or separate us from our precious God who is the fullness of all good. Let us in every place and every hour truly and humbly keep the Lord in our hearts. Let us always appreciate, adore, honor, and serve Him.
Praise God! Give thanks to our Creator and Savior! Magnify Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Glorify the Trinity and Unity!
The Lord is without beginning and end. His greatness is unfathomable. He alone is worthy of praise.
Most surely He is lovable, delectable, and totally desirable above all else!
Forever and ever. Amen.
(Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, published by Paulist Press in 1982, pp. 132-134. Titled and paraphrased by Bill Gaultiere.)
(Prayer of Adoration)
Lord of yesterday, today and tomorrow:
You alone rule the universe;
setting times and seasons according to Your will.
While nations and king come and go,
You, only, are King of kings and Lord of lords;
immortal and all-knowing,
never lacking power and wisdom.
You are strong; and you are good!
Therefore, we joyously and reverently call you God and King.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet, in spite of all we know of You –
we are stubborn and rebellious still.
We think ourselves wise – disregarding Your truth.
We think ourselves strong – using violence to force our will.
We think ourselves right –writing-off others and refusing to
learn from them.
We think ourselves good – ignoring our corruption and evil;
pointing fingers and wagging tongues at others.
Forgive our arrogance minds, self-centeredness hearts
and ungracious spirits.
Take away our hearts of stone;
replace them with hearts of flesh,
hearts that best after Your own heart.
In silent moments, hear us confess what we’re too ashamed to name aloud – forgive and free us, Lord: (Silence)