Grace, mercy and peace

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Thank You (If The Only Words I Ever Pray)

Today is Wednesday the 3rd of June, the feast of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, in the 9th week of Ordinary Time.

Paul Zach with The Porter’s Gate sings, ‘Thank You (If the Only Words I Ever Pray)’. Let these simple words guide your prayer today.

If the only words I ever pray are thank you

That would be enough

That would be enough

Thank you

2:50

Today’s reading is from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

5:36

Fleurie

Tony Anderson

Paul starts this letter by thanking God for Timothy. He remembers Timothy daily in his prayers. Who are the people you want to thank God for as this time of prayer begins?

Timothy is told that he has already received “a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline”. Where can you recognise these same gifts in your own life, or in the lives of the people you are praying for here?

Paul writes with great confidence here. As the passage is read again, notice the signs he offers of where this confidence comes from.

8:12

2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

To Timothy, my beloved child:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

10:42

Return, as this prayer ends, to those people who you began by praying for. Speak to God about them and their needs, and about what they mean to you.

12:34

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen