First Light

Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Word of the Father, first and last, Meet us before we speak. Kindle a lamp for hidden paths And give the strength we seek. Not many words, but one that stays When lesser lights are gone: Teach us to love what you have said, And walk it until dawn.

Original – Prayer on Fire

Jeremiah 31:31–34

Catholic Public Domain Version (public domain)

Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will form a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand, so as to lead them away from the land of Egypt, the covenant which they nullified, though I was the ruler over them, says the Lord. But this will be the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord: I will give my law to their inner most being, and I will write it upon their heart. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they will no longer teach, a man his neighbor, and a man his brother, saying: ‘Know the Lord.’ For all will know me, from the littlest of them even to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will no longer remember their sin.

The Lord’s love is steadfast in the morning. His faithfulness is new with the light. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

From On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

public domain

The Word perceived that corruption could not be got rid of otherwise than through death; yet He Himself, as the Word, being immortal and the Father’s Son, was such as could not die. For this reason, therefore, He assumed a body capable of death, in order that it, through belonging to the Word Who is above all, might become in dying a sufficient exchange for all, and, itself remaining incorruptible through His indwelling, might thereafter put an end to corruption for all others as well, by the grace of the resurrection. It was by surrendering to death the body which He had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from every stain, that He forthwith abolished death for His human brethren by the offering of the equivalent. For naturally, since the Word of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled in death all that was required. Naturally also, through this union of the immortal Son of God with our human nature, all men were clothed with incorruption in the promise of the resurrection. For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word’s indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all.

God of mercy, begin this day in us. We do not ask for a perfect record, only a faithful love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.