February The Nineteenth

O HEAVENLY Father, Who watchest always over Thy faithful people, and mightily defendest them, so that they be harmless preserved, I most heartily thank Thee that it hath pleased Thy fatherly goodness to take care of me this night past. I most entirely beseech Thee, O most merciful Father, to show the like kindness toward me this day, in preserving my body and soul; that I may neither think, breathe, speak, or do anything that may be displeasing to Thy fatherly goodness, dangerous to myself, or hurtful to my neighbor; but that all my doings may be agreeable to Thy most blessed will, which is always good; that they may advance Thy glory, answer to my vocation, and profit my neighbor, whom I ought to love as myself; that, whensoever Thou callest me hence, I may be found the child not of darkness but of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord -- Amen.

THOMAS BECON (1511-1570)