Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Three Prayers

“My dear,” he said, “love, your God, is a trinity. There are three necessary prayers and they have three words each. They are these, “Lord have mercy. Thee I adore. Into Thy Hands.” Not difficult to remember. If in times of distress you hold to these you will do well.”

Elizabeth Goudge, The Scent of Water

I had already read, and been captivated by, several of Elizabeth Goudge’s novels when I came upon this passage in The Scent of Water. Her novels for anyone who isn’t familiar with them are filled with everyday people and their everyday lives. One would think that they are typical English village novels, full of tea, and vicars, and walks in the country, but no, there is always more. The reader is always aware of something waiting around every corner, moving in every chance encounter, shimmering on every horizon, and that something is grace.

The day that I read this passage, that grace was waiting for me. I think that all of us have moments when a passage in a book or the lyrics in a song strike us to the heart. They affect us in such a personal way that it’s hard to convey to anyone else what they mean to us. These words struck me in just that way. I love that they are simple, yet all-encompassing. They are all that needs to be said “in times of distress” and, except for perhaps a thank you, all that can be said in the presence of God. For the past 25 years, I have prayed them when I didn’t know what else to pray; and with few exceptions, I have prayed them every time I have received Communion, or knelt before the Blessed Sacrament.

And so, I begin this blog with those three prayers. I hope that I will be able to keep them in mind as I write, even when what I’m writing is much less serious than what I’ve written here—and I expect that that will be frequently. Of course, given the amount of time it’s taken for me to put one post on this blog (I started working on the blog during Advent.) I’m not sure how frequent anything will be around here.

Welcome to anyone who has read this far, and I also welcome to any comments you might have.

AMDG
Photo credit Teresa Love

23 comments:

  1. Off to an excellent start. And I guess that photo was taken at your house?

    I wish I could say these prayers struck me in the same way--that straight-to-the-heart way. They are certainly very fine prayers, though. I agree with what you say about them, they just didn't hit me that way.

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  2. Hooray!

    And I think these are the essential prayers we pray, even if we don't word them that way: the basic impulses of the heart toward God. Maybe we don't so naturally say the third as we do the first and second . . . Or even the second so naturally as we say the first.

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  3. Is your header photo from Casa Maria, by any chance? It's been in my mind to make a retreat there, since I never seem to get it together to make the Miles Christi silent retreats which are offered here every year -- apparently they're fabulous, and Ron always goes to the men's one, but I have yet to get to one.

    And the dogwoods aren't out here yet. Are they in Memphis? Tessa has a very good eye.

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  4. Yes, that is Casa Maria. That yellow wall is really the same color as the wall behind it. It was a trick of the light. We were halfway planning to go on "A Retreat with Benedict XVI," which is unfortunately a misleading title. I don't know anything about this priest, but we've been reading Introduction to Christianity with the Martys and Alex and I thought it would be good to follow that with this retreat. Thing is, I don't remember if I gave them a deposit or not. It's the middle weekend of May.

    Tessa is a great photographer. I don't know about the dogwoods. I don't recall seeing any. The tree in the picture is my ancient pear.

    AMDG

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  5. Maclin, Yes, that picture was taken at our house. That's the hollow pear tree with the scary face on it.

    AMDG

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  6. I really have to figure out how now to Unknown on my own blog.

    AMDG

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  7. I had a "moment of grace" thing like that reading a book about a 16th-century conjurer/con-man. It wasn't pleasant, but I'm sure it was grace.

    And now the blog wants me to "prove I'm not a robot" - but what if I was? Would reading and retyping "rovergem heiresea" really trip me up?

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  8. It's great to see you're blogging! I just added you to my reader.

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  9. Paul, I completely understand how irritating the verification process is. I even wrote a sonnet about it on Sally's blog, but I can't find the post.

    Toby, Thanks! I'm not sure what it means to be added to someone's reader, but I'm sure it's a good thing.

    AMDG

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  10. First comment from Maclin Horton! And on a fine post to boot!

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  11. Very happy to see this venture taking shape, Janet. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I will say that I am not entirely sure what your second prayer is. I feel quite certain that I have prayed it rarely, if ever. I now want to learn it.

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  12. Well, at the risk of embarrassing myself, I'm not sure what you mean. It should probably be, "Thee, I adore," but that's not the way the author wrote it. And thank you. AMDG

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  13. Yes, that's the one. 'Adoro te devote'? I think I know a musical setting.

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  14. Yes, that's about right. We were talking about lullabies on your blog a while back. That would make a good lullaby if it's this one.

    I chose this one even though you can't really understand the words because there a couple of really beautiful images. The first two comments are killers.

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  15. Thank you, Janet. That is lovely. I am going to try to learn that prayer this Lent, both in Latin and in English, and I am going to try to learn to sing it as well.

    I found this helpful video too.

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  16. That is great! Not so much for that chant in my case, but all those others.

    AMDG

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  17. Those beautiful words in the prayer hit me exactly the same way. Your words are beautiful as well. The Scent of Water is one of the most meaningful novels I have read. Having struggled with anxiety most of my life, several of their characters and their struggles resonated with me strongly. It was grace that kept showing up in the story. You have it exactly right. God's grace, the grace of others. It's what all of us need. Thank you for your post. I realize I am finding it late.

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  18. Welcome, Ingrid, and thanks for commenting.

    AMDG

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  19. Hello Janet. Just discovered your blog after posting a comment on my own (woefully short of posts as yet - daily life does so intervene at times!) I'm always happy to discover another lover of EG's work, and in particular here, your appreciation of her inspired double trinity - those three necessary prayers with three words each. "If in times of distress you hold to these you will do well." Yes indeed. I checked out some of your other posts and discovered that you too had written today, on St. Christina - indubitably astonishing! I had never heard of her before. Congratulations on the sheer volume of information you have posted in your blog - I look forward to revisiting and browsing in the future. Come and chat about Elizabeth on mine, if you feel so inclined: www.christinerawlins.com - I'd love to hear from you. Chris. PS this is my third attempt at sending a comment- hope it gets through to you. If you've received all three versions, my apologies!

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  20. Thanks for your comment and thanks for persevering. I have a copy of your book on my Kindle now.

    AMDG

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