Reflection for Friday the 13th September 2024 from Nigel Price

If you are superstitious, maybe you are planning to stay in bed today! Anyway, whatever you plan today, here is a thought for you to consider.

Today is the feast of John Chrysostom and I want to share with you my favourite prayer of his. It appears at the end of Matins in the Book of Common Prayer and we’ll come to it shortly. A literal translation of Chrysostom is ‘Golden-mouth’ and that couldn’t be more appropriate. He was an eloquent preacher, born in Syria in the middle of the fourth century. He was chosen to be Bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul). His flair for words is most evident in his writings on prayer, and he once said that ‘by prayer I understand not that which is found only in the mouth, but that which springs up from the bottom of the heart. Indeed, just as trees with the deepest roots are not broken or uprooted by a violent storm – so too, prayers that come from the depths of the heart, rooted there, ascend to heaven with confidence.’

So to one of the prayers of John Chrysostom:

Almighty God, who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications to you and promised that when two or three are gathered together in your name you will grant their requests: fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of your servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

What I most love about this is the notion that we may not know exactly what we are praying for, nor what is best for us – but that our prayers will be answered, just perhaps not as we expected, but as may be most expedient for us.

Have a good weekend.