Welcome

I got the idea for this new blog at the end of the week of New Wine, a Christian festival in Somerset, in August 2011. You might guess from my profile that, although not entirely house-bound, I don't very often get out, and it occurred to me that I might try to create a blog to encourage in our faith people like me whose lives are limited in one way or another. I'm hoping that readers will feel able to contribute their own positive ideas. I'm not sure how it will work, but here goes...!
Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see...
A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye,
Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass
And then the heaven espy.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

The communion of heaven

I've already mentioned The King's Blog which continues to encourage me. One of pieces under Words for the Journey comes from the letters of American writer, Flannery O'Connor, who suffered from lupus and died aged 38. The excerpt concluded with a prayer to St Raphael. I confess there was a time when praying to anyone but God would have made me bristle, being a sound Protestant. However I now think I was wrong, partly because I reckon I was fixated with the word "pray", which really just means "ask". I seem to remember some Shakespearian plays (such as The Taming of the Shrew using the expression "I pray you"). And I don't have any problem with asking other people, "the saints" to pray for me or being asked to pray for others. Now it seems illogical to believe in the reality of life after death, saints on earth and saints in heaven, and to exclude the latter from my conversations. (It might, of course, give rise to some misgivings as to my rationality on the part of some!)

However, for my many friends who might find the prayer problematic, I recommend simply addressing it to Jesus, who "always lives to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7).

PRAYER TO ST RAPHAEL
O Raphael, lead us towards those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us! Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand towards those we are looking for! May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by your Light and transfigured by your Joy.
Angel Guide of Tobias, lay the request we now address to you at the feet of Him on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze. Lonely and tired, crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth, we feel the need of calling to you and of pleading for the protection of your wings, so that we may not be as strangers in the Province of Joy, all ignorant of the concerns of our country.
Remember the weak, you who are strong–you whose home lies beyond the region of thunder, in a land that is always peaceful, always serene, and bright with the resplendent glory of God. Amen.
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