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Day 8

A reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus (1:11-20)

The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation,
   and gladness and a crown of rejoicing.
The fear of the Lord delights the heart,
   and gives gladness and joy and long life.
Those who fear the Lord will have a happy end;
   on the day of their death they will be blessed.

To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
   she is created with the faithful in the womb.
She made among human beings an eternal foundation,
   and among their descendants she will abide faithfully.
To fear the Lord is fullness of wisdom;
   she inebriates mortals with her fruits;
she fills their whole house with desirable goods,
   and their storehouses with her produce.
The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom,
   making peace and perfect health to flourish.

She rained down knowledge and discerning comprehension,

and she heightened the glory of those who held her fast.

To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom,

and her branches are long life.

From his Homilies on the Lord’s Prayer by St. Gregory of Nyssa

There is one true and perfect power which is above all things and governs the whole universe. But it does not rule by violence and tyrannical dictatorship, which enforces the obedience of its subjects through fear and compulsion. For virtue must be free from the fear of a taskmaster, so as to choose the good by a voluntary act, since it is a principle that all that is good should be subject only to the power that gives life.

Now since human nature was deceitfully led astray from the discernment of the good, the inclination of our free will has been directed to the opposite and our life subjected to every base thing; our nature has been mixed up with death in a thousand ways, for every form of evil is, as it were, a way of death for us. Since, then, we are hard pressed by such tyranny and become slaves to death through the assaults of the passions, which attack us like executioners and enemies in war, we rightly pray that the kingdom of God may come to us. For we cannot escape the wicked dominion of corruption except the life-giving power take over the government in its place.

So if we ask that the Kingdom of God may come to us, the meaning of our request is this: I would be a stranger to corruption and liberated from death; would that I were freed from the shackles of sin and that death no longer lorded it over me. Let us no more be tyrannised by evil so that the adversary may not prevail against me and make me his captive through sin. But may thy kingdom come to me, so that the passions which still rule me so mercilessly may depart from me, or rather may be altogether annihilated.

Thy kingdom come. By this sweet word we obviously offer God this prayer: Let the opposing battle front be broken and the hostile phalanx destroyed. Bring to an end the war of the flesh against the spirit and let the body no longer harbour the enemy of the soul. Oh let them appear, the royal force, the angelic band, the thousands of rulers, the myriads of those who stand on thy right hand, that a thousand warriors may fall on the front of the enemy! Strong, indeed, is the adversary, formidable, yea, invincible to those bereft of thy help. Yet only as long as one is fighting alone; when thy kingdom comes, the pangs and sighs of sorrow vanish, and life, peace, and rejoicing enter instead.

Musical Selection (John Michael Talbot)

Wisdom comes from God and with God it shall remain

Like the sand of the seashore or the drops of the rain

Or the days of eternity

Who can number these, who can explore

Heaven’s height or the depths of the sea

Before all things were created

Wisdom came to be

The beginning of Wisdom is the awesome fear of God

Which is formed in the faithful in their mother’s womb

With devotion from of old

She inebriates with her finest fruit

And fills our house with food

Her garland is the fear of God

Her blossoms peace and good

Prayer

Lord,

in our grief we turn to you.

Are you not the God of love

who open your ears to all?

Listen to our prayers for your servants,

whom you have called out of this world:

lead them to your kingdom of light and peace

and count them among the saints in glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever. Amen.

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