COMBONIANUM – Spiritualità e Missione

LENT with Gregory of Narek (40)

“Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart”, Written by St. Gregory of Narek, Armenian poet and monk, Doctor of the Universal Church. A thousand years ago St. Gregory of Narek (951-1005) set out, with much trepidation, on a sublime mission to translate the pure sighs of the “broken and contrite” heart into an […]

LENT with Gregory of Narek (39)

Prayer 91 C
Give me rest.
I am exhausted from the multitude of cares and toil.
Remove the turmoil of doubt from my broken spirit,
the bitterness along with the grief,
the sighing along with the misery,
the anxiety along with the wretchedness…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (38)

Prayer 89
God and Lord, life and creator,
merciful, compassionate, light,
long-suffering, God who bears no grudges,
all-merciful, generous God who loves mankind,
savior, blessed, praised, glorified,

LENT with Gregory of Narek (36)

Prayer 80 C

Magnify your honor through me,
and my salvation will be manifested through you
if you find me, Madonna,
if you pity me, blessed among women,
if you rescue me in my waywardness,
immaculate one…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (35)

Prayer 76 B
If you wish to pardon, you are able.
If to heal, you have the power.
To give life, you have the means.
To bestow, you are generous.
To make whole, you are able.
To grant, you are most bountiful.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (34)

Prayer 74 A
Heavenly king, Lord of all,
patient toward all in all things,
Son of the living God, beyond our understanding,
your true mercy is manifest when
the expectation of reward is cut off.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (33)

Prayer 73 D
Look with mercy upon me in my doubts and perils,
glorified Son of God, who alone are compassionate
and will pardon, heal, save, protect, renew, restore,
lift up, support,
and create me again in blissful purity.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (32)

“Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart”, Written by St. Gregory of Narek, Armenian poet and monk, Doctor of the Universal Church. A thousand years ago St. Gregory of Narek (951-1005) set out, with much trepidation, on a sublime mission to translate the pure sighs of the “broken and contrite” heart into an […]

LENT with Gregory of Narek (30)

Prayer 63
You who took our transgressions upon yourself,
you who graced us with your righteousness,
you who offered yourself as the ransom of our reconciliation,
you who never abandoned mercy,
turn the impious toward good, God-fearing works…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (29)

Prayer 60
Protect us, Lord Christ, exalted son of great God.
Fortify and surround us with your heavenly host,
defend us from the gusting winds of the Deceiver
with your cross of light.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (28)

Prayer 57
Accept this meager confession of my innumerable sins,
you who see everything in its totality.
And as you overlooked the fall of the Rock,
may you ignore my vacillation, a small grain of sand.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (27)

Prayer 54
And now, in all and for all, your mercy is hope,
Lord Jesus, the first light of our eyes and our hearts,
all good deeds, life and immortality are from you.
Turn with compassion toward me
and make my soul return to you rejoicing.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (25)

Prayer 51
Now, should I, a mortal who has strayed in every way, plead with another earthly being, to whom it is vain to cry out?
To a mere rational mortal,
on whom it would be false to place hope of salvation? To a frail human, whose strength is as feeble and faltering as his word?

LENT with Gregory of Narek (24)

Prayer 50
Shed light upon me with the rays of your mercy,
you who are benevolent in all ways,
that I might receive your blessing, Lord,
that I might be justified, live and be cleansed
of my inner turmoil,
not of the life with which you endowed me.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (23)

Prayer 49
Now, as you created me, before I existed,
and you revealed yourself as my sustenance,
and I pray that you might reinstate my soul
together with the tabernacle of my body
in the spotlessness of the clean holiness
of their former being…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (22)

Prayer 48
Lean then, Lord, incline yourself in sweetness
with compassion and freely give
the gift of love to comfort us (…)
Lay your hand of salvation on us.
Renew us, forgive and defend us
from the destruction of sin.
And to you alone, who are
the beginning without beginning,
the source of all beginnings,
the holy Trinity and One Divinity,
to you alone are due
glory and dominion forever.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (21)

Prayer 42
A Lord God of compassion, salvation and mercy,
redemption and restoration, healing and health,
enlightenment and life, resurrection and immortality,
remember me, when you go to your kingdom,

LENT with Gregory of Narek (20)

Prayer 41
Son of the living God, blessed in all things,
whose awesome birth by your Father passes
all understanding,
for whom nothing is impossible,
before the dawning of the uneclipsed rays of the mercy of your glory
sins melt away, demons flee, transgressions are erased,
bindings are cut and chains undone.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (19)

Prayer 34
Truly, you hear, kind God,
You listen, king.
You lent an ear, life and light.
You paid attention, heavenly one.
You respected us, almighty.
You noted, knower of secrets.
You saw, keeper.
You empathized, Lord beyond telling.
You humbled yourself, exalted one.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (18)

“Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart”, Written by St. Gregory of Narek, Armenian poet and monk, Doctor of the Universal Church. A thousand years ago St. Gregory … Continua a leggere →

LENT with Gregory of Narek (17)

Prayer 29 a-b
You alone are the origin of all goodness,
mercy beyond telling, Son of the one God on high,
who made the whole day a purgatory for our sins,1
and not a house of condemnation.
You are for me the expectation of good news,
instead of a day of dread.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (16)

Prayer 27
If you would look upon me with that goodwill
toward mankind as you do,
then as I contemplate you, I will cry out in anguish.
If you would listen, I will sigh.
If you would incline your ear, I will whisper a prayer.
If you would take note, I will beseech you.
If you would forgive, I will ask forgiveness.
If you would turn toward me, I will call.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (15)

Prayer 25
The ways of my life are like the waves of the sea,
my soul tossing in this world upon countless,
endless swells,
riding in the shell of my body
like the ship lost at sea…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (14)

Prayer 19
Hear, all-seeing vision of hope and goodness of life,
the profuse sighs of my hurting soul,
unreachable greatness, fearful name, living word,
longed for message, delectable taste,
worshipful calling, confessed beneficence,
sweet perception, professed reality,
glorious essence, blessed existence…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (13)

Prayer 18
Before I was, you created me.
Before I could wish, you shaped me.
Before I glimpsed the world’s light, you saw me.
Before I emerged, you took pity on me.
Before I called, you heard me.
Before I raised a hand, you looked over me.
Before I asked, you dispensed mercy on me.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (12)

Prayer 17
Now, tormented by bitter grief I pray
to you, keeper of imperiled souls.
Do not add to the pain of my sighs.
Do not wound me. I am already injured.
Do not condemn me. I am already punished.
Do not torture me. I am already tormented.
Do not cudgel me. I am already beaten.
Do not push me. I have already fallen.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (11)

Prayer 16
Yours alone, God, in heaven, exalted and generous,
yours is the power, and yours, forgiveness.
Yours is healing and yours, abundance.
Yours are the gifts and yours alone grace.
Yours atonement and yours protection.
Yours is creation beyond knowing.
Yours are arts beyond discovery.
Yours are bounds beyond measure.
You are the beginning and you are the end.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (10)

Prayer 13
Beneficent, almighty, awe-inspiring God,
good Father, charitable donor of mercy,
whose very name heralds the good news of
your grandeur, compassion and fatherly affection,
you are gentle even toward the bitter and discontented.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (9)

Prayer 12
And taking refuge in this unclouded assurance,
I who was broken, am restored,
who was wretched, am triumphant,
who was dissipated, am healed,
who was desperately outlawed, find hope,
who was condemned to death, find life….

LENT with Gregory of Narek (8)

Prayer 9d
For yours is salvation,
and from you is redemption,
and by your right hand is restoration,
and your finger is fortification.
Your command is justification.
Your mercy is liberation.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (7)

Prayer 7
Woe to my sinful soul,
for I have angered my creator.
Woe to this son of perdition,
for I have forgotten the gift of life.
Woe to this debtor of untold thousands of talents,
for I haven’t the means to repay.
Woe to this porter heavy laden with vile sins,
for I cannot lay down my burden to rest.
Woe to this debtor of the Lord,
for I cannot face the Almighty.
Woe to this heap of dried up reeds,
for I am consumed in Gehenna.

LENT with Gregory of Narek (6)

Prayer 6
For although small things mount up
as sands on the shore,
nevertheless, they are unique and distinct in their
origin and increase,
and like my transgressions, so countless that
they are impossible to comprehend:
one with its kith,
the other with its kin,

LENT with Gregory of Narek (5)

Prayer (5 B-C)

B You made me in your glorious image,1
favoring a weak being like me
with your sublime likeness,
adorning me with speech,
and burnishing me with your breath,
enriching me with thought,
cultivating me with wisdom…

LENT with Gregory of Narek (4)

Prayer 3 (A)

Lord, my Lord, grantor of gifts, root of goodness,
ruler of all equally, creator of all from nothing,
glorified, awesome, awe inspiring,
beyond understanding,
dreadful, mighty, stern…