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Good Morning.

The earliest roots of Christianity can be traced back into Egypt where the Holy family escaped shortly after the birth of Jesus. I was part of a group that recently traced the path across Egypt and into the desert where we encountered monks and stayed at Coptic monasteries where they have been praying since the early third century. Since the earliest times the monks have considered it necessary to separate from the world in order to 鈥渨eigh the heart鈥� and encounter God in a deeper way. And I discovered that this concept of weighing the heart is one that reaches back into ancient Egyptian history as I saw in scrolls from the Pharaohs where the heart was embalmed and weighed prior to burial.

Today there is a strong Christian tradition around the heart, when we talk about having a heart for something, or saying 鈥渉is heart wasn鈥檛 in it鈥� and indeed praying to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. All of this points to the way that we are entering into the essence, the essential in our relationship with God. To get to the heart of our relationship.

But we don鈥檛 all want to be monks living in the Egyptian desert, and prayers of the heart mean that we can endeavour to be open to what is deepest and most important to us in our journey. Then when we take a little time to be still and open to the working of the Holy Spirit we find we have a grateful heart.

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Loving God, give us grateful hearts that are open to your bidding. Help us to be open to all that is deepest in our encounter with you, and so find you at the heart of our lives. Amen