The Household of God
Volume 1
The early history of mankind
- Chapter 49 -
ADAM'S AND ENOCH'S MORNING PRAYER
When Enoch had said this, Adam rejoiced and Eve was very happy. Then Adam said: "Amen, may the Lord, the most holy Father of all of us, be with us, and so let us go to bed and may all our children enjoy their rest. Amen,"
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Thus these three people went to bed and slept well till the friendly morning when a fresh wind woke and strengthened them. By your time it was the ninth hour when they went to bed and the third hour in the morning when they rose. And when thus refreshed they were on their feet again, each of them offered his heart in silent prayer and then Adam stood up and spoke the following little prayer in the presence of Enoch and Eve:
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"O You great and loving most holy Father, I have in Your most holy name, which is full of might, power and all glory, lived to see a new day. O Lord, let me all this day long think and act in such a way that the glow of the setting sun may gently waft these words towards me: 'Adam, rejoice, for you have not turned your eye away from the face of Jehovah or your feet from the track of the ways of eternal Love. And just as the sun moved through the firmament quietly illumining and warming, so did your heart follow the quiet breath of the eternal spirit!'
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"O Father, You have not ever turned Your eye and ear away from me; do not turn it away today, nor ever in all eternity!
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"O Lord, let Your love squash every stone on the road on which I will be walking today so that my feet may not stumble and lead to my fall or that a stone may hurt my foot and prevent me from continuing to walk Your ways with straight limbs.
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"O Lord, count my hairs in the morning that not one may be missing in the evening, and thus each drop of sweat that none may be found impure at night
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"O Lord, bless and strengthen me in my weakness so that I may with Your strength today and henceforth, so long as it pleases You, bless in Your most holy name my children whom You have given me.
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"O most holy Father, grant my weak plea in the name of all Your children and all creation! Amen."
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When Adam had ended this sincere little prayer, he turned to the still silently praying Enoch and said: "Enoch, behold, I have now prayed aloud before God and you and I have gained considerable strength so that I can bless all of you worthily and effectively; and my first blessing is for you. And since you have now been blessed, rise and perform your prayer before God and me aloud also so that we, I and your mother, are worthily and piously edified by the gentle morning glow in your love-filled heart. You have heard my prayer wherein I have faithfully submitted my human and fatherly request to the Lord from the innermost depth of my heart. Since you cannot pray as a father, but as a son, do give expression to the childlike love of your heart! Amen"
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When the loving and pious Enoch had heard Adam's wish, he immediately rose to his feet, thanked Me and Adam from the bottom of his heart for the blessing he had received and finally, fulfilling Adam's wish, began to direct the following little prayer to Me:
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"O great God, O most holy Father, You eternal Love full of immeasurable mercy and the most holy grace. Although I know that You pay attention only to the language of the heart and do not listen to the sound of the tongue, nor look at the breath of the lung and disregard every gesture of the flesh, I will let my tongue praise You, as requested by Your pious son Adam.
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"O You most holy Father, behold, as a weak child I yesterday stretched out my tired limbs on the blessed, soft bed where I rested through Your kindness till this holy morning of Your boundless grace and rose overflowing with Your mercies!
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"Who can fathom the magnitude of Your endless deeds of love towards me? If I were only able to grasp even an infinitesimal fraction of them!
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"What is man compared with You that you remember him, O You, before whose faintest breath eternities scatter like weightless snowflakes before a violent storm!
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"How great, how endlessly great must Your love be that weak man can still hold his own before You when he is so full of ingratitude in all his imagined love and humility and cannot ever know how great his debt to You is and will also never be able to properly understand the extent of his lowliness before You.
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"O most holy Father, do look graciously down from Your endless height, might and power upon me who am quite as endlessly weak and graciously accept my so very imperfect love for You. For even if I had the fullest love of all my brothers and fathers within me, what would my love amount to even then?
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"Universes are but a dewdrop before You! Oh, so let this my weak and imperfect love for You be all I can gratefully offer You and strengthen it more and more in accordance with Your mercy. Amen, amen, amen."