Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart

A

Beneficent, almighty, awe-inspiring God,
good Father, charitable donor of mercy,
whose very name heralds the good news of
your grandeur, compassion and fatherly affection,
you are gentle even toward the bitter and discontented.

With you also is your Son, who is like you,
whose hand is strong like yours,
whose awesome reign is eternal like yours,
whose exaltation is shared with you in your creation.

So too the Holy Spirit of your truth,
that flows from you without end,
the perfect essence of existence
and eternal being, is equal to you
in all things, reigning with the Son
in equal glory.
Three persons, one mystery,
separate faces, unique and distinct,
made one by their congruence
and being of the same holy substance and nature,
unconfused and undivided,
one in will and one in action.
One is not greater, one is not lesser,
not even by the squint of an eye, but
the cause of the shadowless light of heavenly love
revealed in our midst have been
glorified together with the Sanctus
from before the ages.

B

For verily, as Peter's open profession of
faith in the Trinity earned for him
the blessed name, Rock, so
in expectation of your clemency,
do I, a sinner condemned, await exoneration,
O deliverer of captives.
And though all rewards are yours,
so too is all mercy,
but I look to you more for mercy than rewards,
for mercy glorifies the giver, rewards merely
recognize the effort of labor,
since rewards are compensation for merit,
but mercy is an act of generosity toward the unworthy.

C

And now, God of compassion, may human deeds
not prevail over your grace, even if they transgress
the laws of nature, but rather may your forbearance
triumph so that your ways may never be less
than those of mortals.
For when your light came to herald the new covenant,
those, like the Jews who prided themselves
in keeping the law, were abandoned to greater heartache
and became more needy of your charity,
than those wretched persons,
forever lost in the wilderness.
Since everything is possible for you, O benevolent God,
hear my sighs of supplication to you.
Have mercy, save us, and be generous.
For yours is forbearance, gentleness, salvation,
atonement and glory for all time, to all peoples.
Amen.