https://opensiddur.org/?p=51127Morning prayer [in Illness] (Almighty and merciful Father), by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)2023-05-20 13:58:08"Morning prayer (Almighty and merciful Father)" [in Illness] by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of <em><a href="/?p=50563">Sacred Communings</a></em>, pp. 117-119. It is not found in the US edition. Textthe Open Siddur ProjectAharon N. Varady (transcription)Aharon N. Varady (transcription)Grace Aguilarhttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Aharon N. Varady (transcription)https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Well-being, health, and caregiving19th century C.E.תחינות teḥinot56th century A.M.English vernacular prayerteḥinot in English
Almighty and merciful Father,
may it please Thee, in the abundance of Thy mercy,
to permit this newly-dawning day
to pass acceptably to Thee.
If pain or weakness be my portion in the hours now a blank,
and prevent the active employment of my time,
O grant me Thy holy spirit,
which will enable me,
without a murmuring thought or word,
to resign myself to Thee.
Grant me those solemn thoughts of Thee and heaven,
which will render those hours blessed to my soul,
by drawing it nearer Thee.
Let me not repine if Thou ordain
the privation of those pleasures,
that improvement, which in health
Thou hast made mine own.
I would resign myself to Thee, O my God,
but my sinful spirit murmurs and rebels.
O Thou who hast given me the wish
to draw nigh unto Thee,
grant, O grant me, the power to do so;
let me not fall back now that I would cling to Thee,
my Father and my Rock, as my sole support.
I look to Thy love as my only treasure.
I would implore Thee, O my God,
to guard me from those numerous temptations
which, in sickness as in health assail me,
if Thy Almighty grace be withdrawn.
Grant me an even temper,
guard me from fretfulness and irritation.
O preserve me in Thy mercy from such guilt,
root from my heart all evil inclinations,
and fill it, O my God, with love and gratitude to Thee,
and after Thee to those whom Thou, in Thy mercy,
hast ordained should tend me with such kindness and care.
Restrain those desires and inclinations
which are not fitted for my present state of health,
and bless in Thine infinite mercy all those pursuits
which Thy loving-kindness still enables me to follow.
Let Thy blessing, O my God,
rest on every hour of my day,
that I may feel in all things,
Thou art with me.
Thou listenest to my cry;
grant me but submission to Thy Almighty will,
moderation of my too easily excited feelings,
patience under all Thy decrees,
however painful to my corrupted nature.
O my heavenly Father,
let me rest in Thee, make Thy will mine own;
let me without one rebellious thought resign myself to Thee,
and live this day as if it were my last.
Almighty and beneficent Lord,
merciful and compassionate God,
O hear me for Thy name’s sake,
and answer me according to Thy will. Amen.
“Morning prayer (Almighty and merciful Father)” [in Illness] by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 117-119. It is not found in the US edition.
Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
Grace Aguilar (2 June 1816 – 16 September 1847) was an English novelist, poet and writer on Jewish history and religion. Although she had been writing since childhood, much of her work was published posthumously. Among those are her best known works, the novels Home Influence and A Mother's Recompense. Aguilar was the eldest child of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Portugal who settled in the London Borough of Hackney. An early illness resulted in her being educated by her parents, especially her mother, who taught her the tenets of Judaism. Later, her father taught the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews during his own bout with tuberculosis which had led the family to move to the English coast. After surviving the measles at the age of 19, she began to embark on a serious writing career, even though her physical health never completely recovered. Aguilar's debut was an anonymous collection of poems, The Magic Wreath of Hidden Flowers. Three years later she translated Isaac Orobio de Castro's Israel Defended into English at her father's behest. Later her The Spirit of Judaism drew interest and sales in both Britain and the United States after being published in Philadelphia by Isaac Leeser. He added a preface to the work elucidating his differences with her, the first of many clashes her work would have with mainstream Jewish thought. In the 1840s her novels began to attract regular readers, and Aguilar moved back to London with her parents. Despite her success, she and her mother still had to operate a boys' Hebrew school to stay solvent, which she resented for the time and energy it took from her writing. In 1847, she became ill again with a spinal paralysis which she did not let prevent her from visiting her brother in Frankfurt. Her health worsened and she died there that September.
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