Daily Reading for May 19 • Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
O Lord; O King, resplendent on the citadel of heaven,
all hail continually;
and of your clemency upon your people still have mercy.
Lord, whom the hosts of cherubim in songs and hymns
with praise continually proclaim,
upon us eternally have mercy.
The armies aloft, O Lord, sing high praise to you;
those to whom the seraphim reply, ‘have mercy.’
O Christ, enthroned as king above,
whom the nine orders of angels in their beauty praise without ceasing,
upon us, your servants, ever have mercy.
O Christ, hymned by your one and only church throughout the world,
to whom the sun, and moon, and stars, the land and sea,
ever do service, have mercy.
O Christ, those holy ones, the heirs of the eternal country,
one and all with utter joy proclaim you in a most worthy strain:
have mercy upon us.
O Lord, O gentle son of Mary free;
O King of kings, blessed redeemer;
upon those who have been ransomed from the power of death,
by your own blood, ever have mercy.
O nobles unbegotten, yet begotten Son, having no beginning,
yet without effort (in the weakness of God) excelling all things,
upon this your people in your pity, Lord have mercy.
O sun of righteousness, in all unclouded glory,
supreme dispenser of justice,
in that great day when you strictly judge all nations,
we earnestly beseech you, upon this your people,
who here stand before your presence,
in your pity, Lord, then have mercy on us.
A prayer of Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and Archbishop of Canterbury, quoted in 2000 Years of Prayer, compiled by Michael Counsell. Copyright © 1999. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com