Best Loved Prayers and Words of Wisdom

Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!

Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!

Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!

Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!

Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!

Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!

Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!

Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!

Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!

Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

But the pains that he endured, Alleluia!

Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!

Now above the sky he’s King, Alleluia!

Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!

Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!

Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Christian humility

The writings of Jeremy Taylor, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, contain what is possibly the best commendation of Christian humility.

Humility is the great ornament and jewel of the Christian

religion ... first put into a discipline and made a part of a religion

by our Lord Jesus Christ ... Remember that the blessed Saviour

of the world hath done more to prescribe, and transmit, and

secure this grace, than any other; his whole life being a great

continued example of humility, a vast descent from the glorious

bosom of his Father, to the womb of a poor maiden, to the form

of a servant, to the miseries of a sinner, to a life of labour, to a

state of poverty, to a death of malefactors, to the grave of death,

and to the intolerable calamities which we deserved.

Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667)

A Christmas prayer

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who wrote widely on the spiritual life. After teaching for many years he left America for Canada, where he spent the last twelve years of his life at L’Arche community. It was here that many of his books were written.

O Lord, how hard it is to accept your way. You come to me

as a small, powerless child born away from home. You live for

me as a stranger in your own land. You die for me as a criminal

outside the walls of the city, rejected by your own people,

misunderstood by your friends, and feeling abandoned by your

God.

As I prepare to celebrate your birth, I am trying to feel loved,

accepted, and at home in this world, and I am trying to

overcome the feelings of alienation and separation which