Juliano Ravanello sings, Adoro te devote, a prayer written by St Thomas Aquinas:

‘Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,

Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,

See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart

Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.’

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas

Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas

Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit

Quia te contemplans totum deficit

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur

Sed auditu solo tuto creditur

Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius

Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius

In cruce latebat sola Deitas

At hic latet simul et humanitas

Ambo tamen credens atque confitens

Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor

Deum tamen meum te confiteor

Fac me tibi semper magis credere

In te spem habere, te diligere

O memoriale mortis Domini!

Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!

Præsta meæ menti de te vivere

Et te illi semper dulce sapere

Pie pellicane, Jesu Domine

Me immundum munda tuo sanguine

Cujus una stilla salvum faceret

Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere

Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio

Oro fiat illud, quod tam sitio

Ut, te revelata cernens facie

Visu sim beatus tuæ gloriæ. Amen

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 12:35-38

Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those servants.

Jesus’ teaching here is quite strong. What do you notice particularly about the passage? What is at the heart of Jesus’ message?

Place yourself into the scene for a moment. What is it like to be “waiting for the Master”? Does this echo in your own waiting on Jesus?

“The Master will have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them”. Does anything surprise you about this?

Now listen as the passage is read to you once more. Imagine the scene as it unfolds...

Luke 12:35-38

‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those servants.

Finally, see if you can gather together all the thoughts that have risen inside you during this time, and then turn them into a prayer to God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen