Note: These prayers, one for each day of the twelve-day Christmas season, in which my True Love is God, follow the pattern of that well-known 18th century English carol with a number of the days illumined by the observances of the Church calendar.
O gracious God, the more I read and reflect on the story of the birth of Your Son Jesus, the more I behold what You have done and are doing…
You create us in Your image, granting unto us our human, truly, God-given dignity. Yet we, surely I, in our sin of separation from You, our sin of self-regard, ever seek, though in vain, through our words and deeds, to bestow upon ourselves our sense of self-worth. You, in sending Your Son Jesus, verily, Your Self in our flesh seek to restore, to rebirth in us that which You first gave at the dawn of creation.
O gracious God, by Your Spirit, may I, finally and forever, believe – and behave accordingly! – that Your gift of dignity is gift; not something I can achieve, but simply, profoundly only can receive.
Amen.