Diary of Private Prayer and Quotation of the Week

John Baillie's little volume Diary of Private Prayer (1949) has been a mainstay of my spiritual life for the past fifteen years or so. Written in 1949, this little book contains Morning and Evening Prayers for 31 days plus Sunday Morning and Evening, so that each prayer is prayed once per month.

I find the depth and breadth of these prayers to be a wonderful addition to my own spontaneous prayers as they dwell on worship as well as on praying for myself and those whom I love.

I thought I'd share the Prayers for the Twelfth Day, Evening with you all tonight even though midnight has passed and it's already the Thirteenth Day of this month. I hope that you will find it as inspiring as I do:

Twelfth Day: Evening

O THOU in whose boundless being are laid up all treasures of wisdom and truth and holiness, grant that through constant fellowship with Thee the true graces of Christian character may more and more take shape within my soul:
-- The grace of a thankful and uncomplaining heart:
-- The grace to await Thy leisure patiently and to answer Thy called promptly:
-- The grace of courage, whether in suffering or in danger:
-- The grace to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ:
-- The grace of boldness in standing for what is right:
-- The grace of preparedness, lest I enter into temptation: 
-- The grace of bodily discipline:
-- The grace of strict truthfulness:
-- The grace to treat others as I would have others treat me:
-- The grace of charity, that I may refrain from hasty judgment:
-- The grace of silence, that I may refrain from hasty speech:
-- The grace of forgiveness towards all who have wronged me:
-- The grace of tenderness towards all who are weaker than myself:
-- The grace of steadfastness in continuing to desire that Thou wilt do as now I pray.
And now, O God, give me a quiet mind, as I lie down to rest. Dwell in my thoughts until sleep overtake me. Let me rejoice in the knowledge that, whether awake or asleep, I am still with Thee. Let me not be fretted by any anxiety over the lesser interests of life. Let no troubled dreams disturb me, so that I may awake refreshed and ready for the tasks of another day. And to Thy Name be all the glory. Amen.

Today marks the First Sunday After the Epiphany. Here is the Collect for this week from The Book of Common Prayer 2011:

First Sunday After the Epiphany
LORD God, in your mercy we ask you to receive the prayers of your people who call upon you; Grant that we may perceive and know what things we ought to do, and give us the grace and the power to faithfully perform them; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and rules with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Quotation for This Week is from a book called The Fire of Love:

"It is a serious waste to let a day go by without allowing God to change us."
~Richard Rolle

On that note, I wish you all a blessed week ahead as the Octave of Epiphany comes to a close and we enter the short Ordinary Time between Epiphanytide and Ash Wednesday.

Soli Deo Gloria,