THE COMPANIONS

JOIN US IN PRAYER

Every month Companions receive a small booklet in the mail, the Intercession Paper. Day by day, we turn its pages, praying with our Companions. The prayers concern needs big and small, thanksgivings, and the aims of the Society. Each day of the week has a theme.

In this monthly feature of our blog, we select some prayers from this month’s IP, as it is called. If you’re so inclined, please join Companions in reaching out in love through prayer.

JANUARY 2023, Intercession Paper, Selected Prayers

COVER

Grant us humility wrapped in straw,

the gifts of wonder, and awe, and faith

to follow the Star of the One who came

to show us the Truth and the Way.

Give us a heart that continually glows

with the Light of the Word incarnate, and yearns

to join Him in healing, in offering hope

to a world that still longs for His Love.

Stephanie Stover, SCHC, “Manger Gifts”

Lehigh Valley Chapter

THANKSGIVING: SUNDAY AND EVERY DAY

I believe God is the Phoenix who raises me up from the ashes of the human experience. Horror happens, at some time, to all of us. If I pray for God’s grace to surround me, look for his grace when I am hurting, recognize it and give thanks for it, I will yet again survive, and thrive through and beyond the worst of times. Thank you, loving Lord, for helping me to find you in the dark.

Eileen Harakal, SCHC

Chicago-Midwest Chapter

SIMPLICITY OF LIFE: MONDAY

God does not give a gift so that people might keep it and take satisfaction in it, but all are given that he might give this one more: himself. Therefore, I say that we must learn to look through every gift and every event to God, and never be content with the thing itself. This above all, then, be ready for the gifts of God. (Meister Eckhart)

Thank you, Meister Eckhart, for reminding us to look through every gift and every event to the great Mystery we call God, and never be content with the thing itself.

Trude Hoffman, SCHC

Philadelphia Chapter

UNITY OF ALL GOD’S PEOPLE: TUESDAY

O Holy One, we thank you for creating all peoples in your own image. We confess that we tarnish that image when we, through fear or ignorance, fail to appreciate the value of others. Grant us humility and wisdom so that we may work together to bring about a beloved community. This we ask in Jesus’s name.

Nola Sheffer, SCHC

Boston Chapter

SOCIAL JUSTICE: WEDNESDAY

The Northwest Chapter will continue making quarterly rent payments in 2023 to the Duwamish Tribe in recognition of being on the unceded lands of Seattle’s original people, and in honor of their ancient culture and resilience. Thanks be to God. realrentduwamish.org

PEACE AND RECONCILIATION: THURSDAY

O God, you have bound us together in a common

life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Book of Common Prayer

“In Times of Conflict,” p. 824

(Submitted by the Atlanta Chapter)

GROWTH IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: FRIDAY

One of the most blessed results of pain, weariness, ennui, sorrow, and disappointment is that you can establish sympathetic relations with all who have ever suffered, or sorrowed, or been disappointed. As your power of sympathy grows, you learn that its growth comes from the source of all growth, and that any larger vision you may have of the sorrows and needs of humanity, has come because you yourself have felt the sympathy of Jesus Christ.

Emily Malbone Morgan, SCHC 1884-1937

Letters to Her Companions, p.130

Feast of the Epiphany 1911

(Submitted by the Berkshire Chapter)

PRAYERS PERSONAL AND GENERAL: SATURDAY

May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful and at ease.

May I be happy.

May all be filled with loving kindness.

May all be well.

May all be peaceful and at ease.

May all be happy.

Tibetan Buddhist Meditation

(Submitted by the Maryland Chapter)

Photo by Alice Hampson