St. Patrick’s Breastplate

17 Mar 2015 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

I arise today                                                                                           Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

Amen.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

18 Dec 2014 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

There are so many wonderful versions of this quintessential Advent hymn out there, translated from Latin into English in 1861, that’s it’s difficult to select which version of it I enjoy most as a modern hymn. However, today I discovered a new one and I believe it’s going to be a longtime favorite. The artist is a young man, Josh Wilson, who released this version two years ago but since I don’t usually listen to much CCM I missed it. It fuses the traditional tune with his own fresh take on the tempo, has the first stanzas in English and then the last one in Latin (okay, I admit I’m a sucker for Latin in a hymn!). The result is simply timeless. I particularly love the emphasis he places on the word “ransom” when singing about the Lord’s plans for Israel. If you’re interested in sampling and/or purchasing this track, here are the usual places:

http://www.amazon.com/Noel-Josh-Wilson/dp/B009CW0CMS

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/o-come-o-come-emmanuel/id715802377?i=715802927

What I found especially interesting as I was reading a little about the history of “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel” (had to work in a little more Latin there, don’t you know<g>) was that it’s simply a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons (today being day two, “O Lord & Ruler…”) that take us from the last week of Advent to the joy of Christmas Day in all its splendor, beginning the 12 Days of Christmas and all our other wonderful traditions.

So the next time you’re looking for some new Advent music to add to your collection, you might want to give this one a shot.

Join Me in Glad Adoration

20 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in The Writing Life Tags: , ,

Thanks to the encouragement of readers of this blog—and you know who you are!—I am rebooting my writing here as of this present moment. It has not been for lack of desire or material that the page has lain fallow. I am grateful anyone would even come back to check and see if there was any activity as sporadic as it’s been since the blog first appeared five years ago, especially during the past two and a half years, which have been especially turbulent for our family.

Today I received very good news. Among the myriad of health screenings in my life, today I had to return because of abnormal findings on the most recent one performed. Not very fun news, but I wasn’t particularly stressed after the initial shock as I then remembered I’d had a similar issue several years ago that turned out fine.

But then yesterday I started to freak out. This morning I was a wreck because I hadn’t slept well for multiple nights—hubby just returned to work this week after a lengthy medical sabbatical—and so my body clock was out of whack, among other issues. I barely got ready in time—my ride arrived on time and I still hadn’t put on my makeup or done a thing to my hair but she told me that latter looked fine (thanks to yesterday’s haircut and getting it styled so nicely—thank you, Mom!) and so I did the five minute minimal “fake up” that allows me to fake like I have my act together and we were out the door, laden with our bag of snacks and beverages—a must have for a 90 minute drive and 2-3 hour appointment—and a couple of odds and ends to keep us busy while waiting.

We alternated catching up, as my chauffeur was my dear friend who lives a little over an hour away, God bless her, and me resting—since I easily get overstimulated when stressed, even with good stress, darn it! Then there was the waiting, the poking and prodding, and finally the visit with the doctor who gave us both the All Clear news which resulted in a big high five as soon as we got shepherded out of her office and resulted in each of us joyfully texting the glad news to our chain of prayer partners.

And so now, I am reminded of the hymn I walked up the aisle to, going on 25 years ago, to marry the love of my live. I think it very appropriate for giving thanksgiving here. I’ll share the first stanza here as it’s time for me to get ready for bed after a long, but good, day. Thank you, Lord!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, Now to His temple draw near;
Join me in glad adoration!

Can I get an amen?

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