Daily Prayer for November 1
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16, NIV Dear Father in heaven, we seek you and your kingdom. We gather to hear your Word so that we may receive strength for our own lives and for all our relationships with others. We want to stand firm, believing that in everything great and small your will is being done and that we may yet experience a new coming of your glory on earth. Then earthly concerns will no longer torment us and wear us out, but heavenly things may surround us and everything become new in accordance with your good, merciful, and perfect will. Amen. Recent articles on Plough All the Saints, and the Ones They Leave Behind Logan Hoffman Logan Hoffman learns lessons about eternity from Eugene Vodolazkin’s novel Laurus. Read now The Renegade Monk Andrea Grosso Ciponte and Dacia Palmerino Over five hundred years ago, Martin Luther battled for freedom of faith. Read now Should ER Doctors Treat Bodies or People? Abraham M. Nussbaum A first-year medical student takes time to find out who her trauma patients really are, or were. Read now Can Making Art Make You a Better Mother? Jess Sweeney A mother of toddlers finds fellow travelers in Catherine Ricketts’s The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity. Read now Is Tolerance Still a Virtue? Jake Meador When it comes to politics, sometimes you must patiently endure people you disagree with. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 31
Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.” When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Psalm 118:4–6, NIV Lord our God, dear Father in heaven, we thank you. How often you rescue us from all fear and distress! How often you hear and answer us! Grant that our hearts may always be eager and joyful because you answer us. There is nothing else for us in this world; you are our one hope, our only hope. You alone can help our times, help the nations, help each person. Nothing else matters to us. Lord our God, for the rest of our life on earth you alone are our help, our comfort, and our strength. Amen. Recent articles on Plough The Renegade Monk Andrea Grosso Ciponte and Dacia Palmerino Over five hundred years ago, Martin Luther battled for freedom of faith. Read now Should ER Doctors Treat Bodies or People? Abraham M. Nussbaum A first-year medical student takes time to find out who her trauma patients really are, or were. Read now Can Making Art Make You a Better Mother? Jess Sweeney A mother of toddlers finds fellow travelers in Catherine Ricketts’s The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity. Read now Is Tolerance Still a Virtue? Jake Meador When it comes to politics, sometimes you must patiently endure people you disagree with. Read now When God Intervenes in History Gustavo Gutiérrez The pivotal moment in human history happened in obscurity among people of little importance. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 30
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Psalm 117, NIV Lord our God, we thank you that we may come to you and that our spirits can reach out for your help and your comfort. May we draw strength from communion with you, our Father. May we realize more fully that we are your children, truly your children, who throughout our pilgrimage are allowed to know you as our refuge and our help. Remember our world, and grant that many hearts awaken and turn to you, looking to you in all the fear and need which sweep over many people in our time. Let your Spirit be revealed to our hearts in quiet, bringing many experiences from you, O Lord our God, and from your kingdom. Protect us every day in the many lands throughout the earth. For the nations are yours; they shall receive life and blessing from you, and at last your kingdom will be revealed in all the world, to the eternal glory of your name. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Should ER Doctors Treat Bodies or People? Abraham M. Nussbaum A first-year medical student takes time to find out who her trauma patients really are, or were. Read now Can Making Art Make You a Better Mother? Jess Sweeney A mother of toddlers finds fellow travelers in Catherine Ricketts’s The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity. Read now Is Tolerance Still a Virtue? Jake Meador When it comes to politics, sometimes you must patiently endure people you disagree with. Read now When God Intervenes in History Gustavo Gutiérrez The pivotal moment in human history happened in obscurity among people of little importance. Read now When Roads Are Washed Away Amanda Held Opelt After Hurricane Helene, the people of rural North Carolina are finding that a road is so much more than gravel and asphalt. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 28
Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Psalm 50:14–15, NIV Dear Father in heaven, we want to praise you together and to thank you with all our hearts for your goodness and your deliverance from our many needs. Accept our thanks, and help us go on our way with ever joyful hearts. Make us ready for whatever you have prepared for us, your children. Bless us in our individual lives and bless us in our community. Let your Spirit shed its rays into all places to comfort people’s hearts and to restore and strengthen their faith. May your name be praised forevermore. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Is Tolerance Still a Virtue? Jake Meador When it comes to politics, sometimes you must patiently endure people you disagree with. Read now When God Intervenes in History Gustavo Gutiérrez The pivotal moment in human history happened in obscurity among people of little importance. Read now When Roads Are Washed Away Amanda Held Opelt After Hurricane Helene, the people of rural North Carolina are finding that a road is so much more than gravel and asphalt. Read now Becoming a Free Person Sr. Carino Hodder, OP Lying face down on the stone-cold floor was the first step to freedom. Read now Those Baffling Beatitudes Charles E. Moore Are Jesus’ blessings within reach of ordinary people like me, who aren’t particularly poor, meek, or pure in heart? Read now
Daily Prayer for October 26
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11, NIV Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, stand at our side and protect us in all our days on earth. Grant us an understanding of the honor that belongs to God. Help us see that you are sent so that heaven and earth shall one day bow down before God’s almighty will. Stand by us so that we may hear, understand, and accept your Word. Stand by us all our lives. Be with us in suffering and in our last hour when death comes to us. May your grace be with us. Help us at all times to be firmly rooted in the will of our God and Father in heaven. Amen. Recent articles on Plough When God Intervenes in History Gustavo Gutiérrez The pivotal moment in human history happened in obscurity among people of little importance. Read now When Roads Are Washed Away Amanda Held Opelt After Hurricane Helene, the people of rural North Carolina are finding that a road is so much more than gravel and asphalt. Read now Becoming a Free Person Sr. Carino Hodder, OP Lying face down on the stone-cold floor was the first step to freedom. Read now Those Baffling Beatitudes Charles E. Moore Are Jesus’ blessings within reach of ordinary people like me, who aren’t particularly poor, meek, or pure in heart? Read now Harmonizing Silence Joel Clarkson Estonian composer Arvo Pärt understands the space between sounds. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 25
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12, RSV Lord our God, grant that our spirit may recognize your Spirit and your love, so that our lives cannot be swallowed up by passing concerns but are lifted to something higher. Help us hold fast to all the blessings you have allowed us to experience, the blessings you will certainly continue to give, even though new battles and new troubles are all around us. Send a great light to shine among the many people whose task is to lead the way so that your kingdom may come. Send light so that your name may be honored through our human deeds and you may be known as life for all. Amen. Recent articles on Plough When Roads Are Washed Away Amanda Held Opelt After Hurricane Helene, the people of rural North Carolina are finding that a road is so much more than gravel and asphalt. Read now Becoming a Free Person Sr. Carino Hodder, OP Lying face down on the stone-cold floor was the first step to freedom. Read now Those Baffling Beatitudes Charles E. Moore Are Jesus’ blessings within reach of ordinary people like me, who aren’t particularly poor, meek, or pure in heart? Read now Harmonizing Silence Joel Clarkson Estonian composer Arvo Pärt understands the space between sounds. Read now Duty Trumps Freedom in Shogun Adam Fleming Petty A streaming series set in seventeenth-century Japan explores the claims of duty on individual freedom. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 24
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. John 16:27, RSV Dear Father in heaven, we thank you that with our poor, faulty, sinful, and death-ridden lives we may find shelter in your love. We thank you that we are your children. We thank you that whatever we are, however depressed we are about ourselves and the inadequacy of our own nature, we are still your children. Give us your Spirit, we pray. Give us your Holy Spirit, penetrating our whole nature, our flesh and blood, keeping us firm in faith under all temptation and distress. Give us your Spirit to fill us with hope as we look to the future, to fill us with certainty in our Lord Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come, whose victory is before our eyes so that we never waver or become afraid. Give us your Spirit so that we may live in this certainty and prepare ourselves more and more for your coming into the world. May we come to know that your loving-kindness is at work today, that in the end your deliverance will come quickly, to the glory of your name. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Becoming a Free Person Sr. Carino Hodder, OP Lying face down on the stone-cold floor was the first step to freedom. Read now Those Baffling Beatitudes Charles E. Moore Are Jesus’ blessings within reach of ordinary people like me, who aren’t particularly poor, meek, or pure in heart? Read now Harmonizing Silence Joel Clarkson Estonian composer Arvo Pärt understands the space between sounds. Read now Duty Trumps Freedom in Shogun Adam Fleming Petty A streaming series set in seventeenth-century Japan explores the claims of duty on individual freedom. Read now You’re Probably Not the Good Samaritan Catharine Grainge If you’re a professional do-gooder like me, you’re more likely the priest or Levite, whom everyone expects to do good. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 23
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:3–5, NIV Lord our God, Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who encourages and strengthens us in all distress, we thank you for turning our suffering into a pathway to life, so that we may be thankful and trusting through everything. You can change what we find hardest into what is best for us. Praise to your name that a way through sin and death is given to us. Praise to your name that you have shown us a way through all evil, a way that is blest. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Those Baffling Beatitudes Charles E. Moore Are Jesus’ blessings within reach of ordinary people like me, who aren’t particularly poor, meek, or pure in heart? Read now Harmonizing Silence Joel Clarkson Estonian composer Arvo Pärt understands the space between sounds. Read now Duty Trumps Freedom in Shogun Adam Fleming Petty A streaming series set in seventeenth-century Japan explores the claims of duty on individual freedom. Read now You’re Probably Not the Good Samaritan Catharine Grainge If you’re a professional do-gooder like me, you’re more likely the priest or Levite, whom everyone expects to do good. Read now Made for Immortality Alice von Hildebrand Gratitude is the secret to experiencing pleasure that truly satisfies. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 22
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul? Deuteronomy 10:12, NIV Lord our God, our Father in heaven, be with us as we are gathered here. Through your Spirit let our hearts grow in understanding of how we can serve you rightly and live as you want us to live. Help us hold fast to all that is good. Free us more and more from everything that hinders us, from all that is evil. Show your loving-kindness to us and to our loved ones, wherever they may be. Hear every human heart that sighs to you, pleading that what is of heaven may overcome what is of earth. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Duty Trumps Freedom in Shogun Adam Fleming Petty A streaming series set in seventeenth-century Japan explores the claims of duty on individual freedom. Read now You’re Probably Not the Good Samaritan Catharine Grainge If you’re a professional do-gooder like me, you’re more likely the priest or Levite, whom everyone expects to do good. Read now Made for Immortality Alice von Hildebrand Gratitude is the secret to experiencing pleasure that truly satisfies. Read now Cracking Open the Rock of Language Alan Rubenstein A student recalls lessons from an old teacher and fellow word detective. Read now Listening to Broomsedge Adam Whipple In East Tennessee, broomsedge is a herald of woe, or maybe a divine joke. Read now
Daily Prayer for October 21
Then another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all God’s people upon the golden altar in front of the throne. And from the angel’s hand the smoke of the incense went up before God with the prayers of his people. Revelation 8:3–4, NEB Lord God, we come before you and ask you to turn our hearts and minds to you alone, to you who have power over the whole world and who can do everything in our hearts according to your will. Let there be light in our time. Hear and answer the many prayers that have already come to you, rising for centuries before your throne, prayers for your kingdom and for your will on earth. This earth has become the prey of evil. We are poor and needy, and you alone can help us. Help us, O Lord, our God and Father. After this misery let your day come, your great day over all the world and over all peoples. Amen. Recent articles on Plough You’re Probably Not the Good Samaritan Catharine Grainge If you’re a professional do-gooder like me, you’re more likely the priest or Levite, whom everyone expects to do good. Read now Made for Immortality Alice von Hildebrand Gratitude is the secret to experiencing pleasure that truly satisfies. Read now Cracking Open the Rock of Language Alan Rubenstein A student recalls lessons from an old teacher and fellow word detective. Read now Listening to Broomsedge Adam Whipple In East Tennessee, broomsedge is a herald of woe, or maybe a divine joke. Read now Talks with an Old Friend of God Fyodor Dostoyevsky In this excerpt from the novel The Adolescent, an old and wise peasant shares his worldview with a young man. Read now