I am a slave

My desires overtake me. My passions fill me. I know not how to carry out the good i desire to display. The sin I do not want to desire continues to dwell in all my actions, all my thoughts, all my days. Where do I go to be renewed? How can I do this to the One I desire to control my life?

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Praise be to the Lord; His Spirit now dwells within me! He gives my mortal body life-- I am no longer a slave to the passions of my sin! Hallelujah God! The Restorer of all sinful beings! You hear our cries for mercy. You encompass us with grace.

For we are no longer in bondage of the spirit of slavery. But we have received the Spirit of adoption, as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" We are now children of God, and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

[Romans 7 & 8]

Hallelujah, Father! For you have saved my being from death. And I eagerly await your return.

Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.

Until I am found in Thee

O Lord, You have created us for you, and our hearts are restless until they are found in Thee.

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!

--Saint Augustine

Savior of the world, what have you done to deserve this? And what have we done to deserve you? Strung up between criminals, cursed and spat upon, you wait for death, and look for us, for us whose sin has crucified you.

To the mystery of undeserved suffering you bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love. Forgive us for not knowing what we have done; open our eyes to see what you are doing now, as through wood and nails, you dis-empower our depravity and transform us by your grace.

Amen.