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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

For this week’s pre-recorded Eucharist from St Pauls Cathedral Sale, I am joined in the sanctuary by Associate Priest at St Paul’s, the Revd Heather Toms and Dean Susanna Pain, with assistance from The Revd David Perryman who also filmed the service.

Christine Morris has once again undertaking the editing and distribution of the video file, and we are grateful to all members of this production team.

The following prayer may be helpful to use at the point of distribution of the Sacrament:

A prayer for Spiritual Communion O Lord Jesus Christ, through your tender mercy grant that as the hem of your garment, touched in faith, healed the woman who could not touch your body, so the soul of this your servant may be healed by like faith in you, whom I cannot now sacramentally receive. In union with the faithful at every altar-table in your Church I desire to be united with you, and pray that you will come spiritually into my heart. Let nothing ever separate me from your love, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

This prayerful poem from Michael Leunig is one we can all echo:

Dear God, We struggle, we grow weary, we grow tired. We are exhausted, we are distressed, we despair. We give up, we fall down, we let go. We cry. We are empty, we grow calm, we are ready.
We wait quietly…

A small, shy truth arrives. Arrives from without and within. Arrives and is born. Simple, clear, and steady. Like a mirror, like a bell, like a flame. Like rain in summer. A precious truth arrives and is born within us. Within our emptiness. We accept it, we observe it, we absorb it. We surrender to our bare truth. We are nourished, we are changed, we are blessed. We rise up. For this we give thanks. Amen.

Grace and peace, +Richard