Omnipotent and merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Your most wise judgment in addition to the ministry of the Church and the rule of government, You instituted the household estate. I praise You and beg You with my whole heart that You guard this holy nursery of Church and Republic. Grant to virgins, widows, and those married, true holiness of soul and pure chastity of body. May virgins depend completely upon You [1 Cor. 7:34]. May widows continue in prayers day and night [1 Tim. 5:5]. May husband and wife highly esteem one another with sincere love [Eph. 5:25]. May all serve You in righteousness and holiness with their whole heart. May the marriage bed be undefiled [Heb. 13:4] and every soul unstained. May they be violets of humility and lilies of chastity. May they be roses of charity and balms of sanctity.

Bind together the hearts of the pious who are married, with the bond of a chaste love, so that they embrace each other willingly and continue in Your holy service. Guard them from the plots of Asmodeus [Tobit 3:8], lest they burn with hatred, one for the other. May the wife be a helper for the man and supply comfort in adversity [Gen. 2:18]. May the indissoluble bond of marriage be for us all a holy mystery of the love between Christ and the Church [Eph. 5:32]. The closer the fellowship of husband and wife, still more fervent may their zeal in prayer be. The more they are subject to greater perils and misfortunes, with souls more closely joined, the more may they be engaged in piety and prayers. (Continued on Sexagesima)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.85-87)

(Continued)  Send forth into Your harvest faithful workers [Mat. 9:38], so that they may gather a great harvest of saints. Open the hearts of the hearers, so that they may receive the seed of the Word with the holy obedience of faith [Act 16:14]. Grant to them Your grace, so that they may guard the holy deposit of the Word with a pure heart, and with patience bring forth abundant fruit [Luke 8:15]. May they hear attentively, may they hear carefully, may they hear fruitfully! Otherwise the Word which is preached to them, not having been mixed with faith, will judge them on the last day [John 12:48]. Show forth the express promise of Your grace, that Your Word will not return to You void [Isa. 55:11]. I am mindful of this Your promise, grant that the labor of the one who plants and the one who waters may be blessed [1 Cor. 3:7]. Grant Your protection, I ask, that the infernal raven may not dig up the holy seed of Your Word from the field of the hearts of men, nor the thorn of worldly pleasures and riches constrain it, nor the hardness of stone prevent it from bearing fruit [Mat. 13:4 ff., Luke 8:12 ff.]. Water that seed with the heavenly dew of Your grace, poured out from above, so that then the most abundant harvest of good works may spring forth. Bind together the hearts of pastors and hearers alike in the closest bond of love, so that they contend at the same time for one another in prayers, and encourage each other by their care for one another, Amen.  (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.81-83)

O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, our only Mediator and Redeemer, You have been exalted to the right hand of the Father, and send pastors and teachers of Your Word [Eph. 4:11], by whose work You gather the Church among us unto Yourself. I humbly beg You, who are one true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that You guide those Your ministers in the way of truth, and turn the hearts of their hearers to the true obedience of faith. There is no occupation of human life, no class of men, which is so subject to the hatred and plots of Satan as the ecclesiastical ministry of the Word. Protect, therefore, the members of this ministry with the shield of grace, and furnish them with the strength of patience, so that Satan’s traps cannot trip them up.

Grant, I ask, to Your ministers the necessary knowledge and pious diligence in all doings, that they first learn from You before presuming to teach others [Jas. 3:1]. Govern and enlighten their hearts by Your Spirit so that in the place of God they preach nothing other than God’s Word; they shepherd the flock committed unto them [1 Pet. 5:2], purchased and redeemed by Your precious blood [Acts 20:28], out of true and sincere love and not out of covetousness or ambition; they shepherd the flock in thought, word, and deed; they shepherd by the prayer of their soul, by the exhortation of the Word, and by example; so that they follow in the footsteps of the one to whom the care of the Lord’s flock was commended three times [John 21:15]. Rouse them that they keep watch over the souls entrusted to them, since they shall give serious account for them in the severe examination of the last judgment [Heb. 13:17]. Whatever they advise in the preaching of the holy Word, may they first be diligent in this matter in their own lives, lest being sluggish to work themselves, they labor in vain to arouse others. To whatever good works they inflame others, may they themselves first be zealous in these works by the fervor of the Spirit. Before they resound with words of exhortation, may they first proclaim by their works, whatever they are about to speak. (Continued On Transfiguration)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.81-83)

Meditation on the needs of our neighbor has in view the common well-being of Church and Republic. This is the fruit of true and sincere love, which gathers us all into one mystical body under one Head, Christ, and commends to us serious care for the Church as a whole, and for all its members. If a member of the body does not strive, according to its share, to preserve the well-being of the whole bodily structure, or does not suffer when a fellow member is suffering, it is no true member. It is the same with the mystical body of Christ [Col. 1:24, 1 Cor. 12:12 ff]. And therefore, whoever is a true and living member of the Christian Church ought pray daily [Rom. 12:12, Eph. 6:18, Acts 3:1] for the preservation of the Word, for pastors and hearers [Col. 4:2-4, Eph. 3:14-21], for magistrates [1 Tim. 2:2], and those under authority, and for the household. These are the three hierarchies divinely instituted for well-being in this life and for the extension of the heavenly kingdom [1 Tim. 2:1-4, Rom. 13:1-6, Eph. 6:4]. He ought pray also for relatives and benefactors, to whom he is bound by some special tie, and for enemies and persecutors [Mat. 5:44, Rom. 12:14], whose conversion and salvation he ought earnestly desire, and for those afflicted and suffering hardship, whose misfortunes should move his soul. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.79)

(Continued)  You have placed a treasure chest of Your gifts in the shrine of my heart. You have placed in that treasure gifts, traits, and abilities of Your choosing and number. Far be it from me to take credit for them, or claim to have deserved them, for I am unworthy. Kindle by Your Spirit the flame of piety and charity in my heart. Grant, I ask, that I be able to cover my heart with the ashes of humility. How insignificant is that praise which one man glorifies another? The one who is great in Your sight, O greatest Creator, is truly great. He who is pleasing to You is pleasing to the One who assigns a value to all things. But no one is pleasing to You unless he is displeasing to himself.

You are the Life of my life. You are the Soul of my soul. Therefore I leave my life and soul in Your hands and cling to You completely, with a humble heart. May Your eminence regard my lowliness. May Your highness regard my worthlessness [Psa. 113:4–7]. Oh why do I so desire to be praised by the world, since nothing in it is pure? Why do I glorify myself so much, since the yoke of sin so oppressively weighs me down? May a holy fear pierce my heart like a spike, so it will not be puffed up with the most dangerous illness, spiritual pride. May my countless sins ever be before my eyes, but may my good works, whatever sort they are, be forgotten. I am troubled by the memory of my sins more than I am pleased by the glory of any impure or imperfect good work which I have done. In You alone I rejoice and glory. You are my joy and glory for eternity, Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.62-63)

Omnipotent and merciful God, You bitterly hate all arrogance. Help me to be a rose of charity and a violet of humility, so that I may spread a fragrant smell by works of love and think humbly of myself. What am I in Your sight, O Lord? Dust, ashes, a shadow, nothing. Therefore, since I am nothing in Your sight, grant that I consider myself nothing in my own eyes. Push back the inborn, swelling pride of my heart that I receive the dew of heavenly grace. For the rivers of Your grace do not ascend up lofty mountains; rather, they flow down to the low-lying valleys of the humble heart. I have nothing but weaknesses and transgressions. Whatever is good in me has come down to me from the font of Your goodness. I can claim for myself nothing whatsoever which is good, since in and of myself I have nothing good. The more highly I think of You, the more unworthy I must consider myself. Far, far be it from me, O kindest Lord, to be arrogant concerning the gifts You have given me and despise others because of them.  (Continued on Epiphany Two) (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.62-63)

O holy and merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg You in the Holy Spirit, for the sake of Your Son, to powerfully work in me and put to death the old man. I need this every day so that I can be made strong in You according to the inner man. Sin dwells in my flesh [Rom. 7:17]. Give to me the strength of the Spirit, so I will not allow it to rule me [Rom. 6:12]. You set my hidden sins in the light of Your countenance [Psa. 90:8]. I ask that You place them in the light in my heart, so that I may recognize them and regret them, and humbly seek their forgiveness. I am not yet completely free from the indwelling of sin. Please be gracious, I ask, and grant me freedom from the guilt and condemnation of sin. The law of sin in my members is warring against the law of my renewed mind [Rom. 7:23]. Give me the grace of Your Spirit so that I may take captive the law of sin, and not be captive to the old law of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh [Gal. 5:17]. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak [Mat. 26:41]. Give to my spirit, therefore, great power and strength, so that it may overcome the depraved lusts which battle in my flesh. That whoring Delilah attacks me every day with her flatteries [Jud. 16:6]. Strengthen my inner man by Your Spirit [Eph. 3:16] so that she cannot break his powers. Oh how incredibly difficult and hard it is to fight against one’s self! When I fight the flesh I am fighting myself! How difficult and arduous it is to remove an enemy from one’s own home!

Unless You clothe me with heavenly strength in this war, I am afraid that I will certainly be defeated because of the hidden plots of the enemy. Strike down, burn, cut, and kill the old man, so that I can flee from his flattering fraud and seduction. Grant that daily I die unto myself, so the allurements of the flesh will not draw me away from the true life which is in Christ. Inflame the fire of the Spirit in my heart, so that I may offer to You as a sacrifice the beloved son of my soul, depraved lusts and my own will. Flesh and blood cannot receive the inheritance of the kingdom of God [1 Cor. 15:50]. May they die in me, so I will not be excluded from the kingdom of heaven! Those who live according to the flesh will die; those who by the Spirit kill the deeds of the flesh will live [Rom. 8:13]. Those who belong to Christ crucify the flesh with its desires [Gal. 5:24]. Pierce and crucify my flesh, O Christ pierced and crucified on the altar of the cross for me! Amen.

On the festival of Epiphany you heard that it was so called on account of the manifestation of Christ, which occurred that the new-born Babe might not be unknown, but revealed; for if we had not heard of His birth, it would have been of no avail. Hence it is that during these days we preach also upon other Gospel lessons which refer to the manifestation of Christ. Thus we use the one relating to Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan by John, and also the one which speaks of His first miracle, performed at the marriage at Cana, where He manifested Himself as Lord over all. These manifestations took place not only that Jesus should be known among men, but also that He might be acknowledged and praised as One who is more than human, born to have dominion over everything; and also that we should recognize Him as our Savior, upon whom we can depend in every distress and anxiety, and from whom we can obtain our help.

(The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.56-57)

Meditation on our need shows us that of ourselves we possess nothing which is spiritually good, and therefore, it teaches us to reject all faith in our own powers. It teaches us to flee to our only help, the divine mercy promised to us on account of Christ. When we consider all our many needs, our heart is raised to God. It asks Him to put to death the old man and to renew the new man. These works of God are needed daily by all those who have been reborn. This renovation consists of faith, hope, love, humility, patience, long-suffering, chastity, and the preservation and increase of all the other good qualities. We are to seek these from God with earnest prayers. Every day we are assaulted by the flesh, the world, and Satan. Every day our flesh incites us to love earthly things. Every day the world assaults us with its hatred, and Satan batters us with his plots. Therefore, we must pray daily to the Lord of Hosts, our highest Judge, to give us contempt for the world, denial of self, victory over the world, preservation in all difficult situations, true peace for the soul, victory in temptations, and preservation from the plots of the devil. Finally, since in the hour of death and judgment the help of God is needed by us above all else, we must humbly pray every day for a blessed end to this life and for a blessed resurrection unto eternal life.  (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.55)

(Continued)  You showed Your mercy to me before I could perceive it. You came to me with Your kindnesses before I could long for them. Your generosity encompassed me before I could offer thanks for it. You are the one who not only marvelously formed me in the womb of my mother, but also drew me out from the womb. You have been my hope since I was yet at my mother’s breast. I was cast upon You from birth. From my mother’s womb You have been my God (Psa. 22:10–11).

When I consider how many die in the womb before coming to the light of this life, I admire and praise Your mercy all the more, because You brought me, alive, safe, and sound, out of the confinement of the womb into the theater of this world. How many years passed in which I was nothing! But it pleased You to build this dwelling of my body, and to bring it out of the deep and darkness of my mother’s womb. You have given me a rational soul and did not will that I be a stone or snake. To You, my God, for this Your mercy, be honor and glory forever. Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.30-32)

Omnipotent, eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I give You thanks. I praise You, I glorify You, that Your hands fashioned me and made every detail of what I am. You shaped me like clay in the womb of my mother. You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese. You clothed me with skin and knit me together with bones and tendons. You gave me life and showed me mercy, and in Your providence You watched over my spirit (Job 10:9–12). I will celebrate Your great mercy which You have shown me with eternal praises. Your kindness I will declare with everlasting songs of praise. You covered me in the womb of my mother. I will praise You, for I am wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and this my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You because You made me in secret when You adorned me with my various members in the lower parts of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was yet unformed, and in Your book were written all the days that would be, though not yet one of them was. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is their sum! If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sands of the sea (Psa. 139:13–18).

(Continued on Circumcision and Name of Jesus)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.30-32)