Prayers - Crusader's Prayer

CRUSADER'S PRAYER

God of Virtue and Valor,

Lancelot, King Arthur,
and other knights of old,
in legend or reality, lay prostrate
before Your cathedral altars
in all-night-vigils of fealty
and humility.

They vowed, in Your Holy Name, to live spotless, exemplary, moral lives
in service to a king or overlord.

They pledged to defend their feudal liege, to right wrongs, to aid
the defenseless, and to stand up
always for the weak and the poor.

Arrayed in under-coats of chain mail,
suits of shining armor, gauntlets
and steel helmets, they were armed
with swords, daggers, pikes
and lances.

They served as the "Law and Order”
of the Middle Ages.

Some did great good works in secret,
so that only You would know,
and also to avoid praise, and escape
the pitfalls of worldly pride.

Let me now be Your knight, and pledge
my fealty and service to You
in the modern world, my Lord,
my Liege, my God and Master.
Let me challenge wrong and oppose evil
wherever I encounter it.

Let faith be my armor, and my code
of honesty be my shield. Let my voice and my good deeds be my weapons
of choice. Let the emblem
on my escutcheon be Your Holy Cross.

Let my conscience be my helmet, crowned with the plume of my personal purity and integrity.

Let injustice, dishonesty, laziness, duplicity and the Serpent Satan
and his devious minions be my hated foes, and let me battle them endlessly
and without mercy, to final victory.

Let me do secret good deeds,
of which only You and I will know.

Help me, Lord, to stand ready
to defend the defenseless,
as in giving to the poor and speaking up for an absent friend whose character is being assassinated.

In the wider world help me to protect
and assist however I can the disabled,
the orphans, the downtrodden,
the helpless poor, the sick,
the wretched homeless, and those
who have no vote or voice
in the public square.

My good Lord, Let me be valorous
in standing up for the cause of anyone whose rights or dignity are being denied or taken away.

Help me to be courageous in defending my beliefs, and generous in sharing them with others.

Keep me chivalrous in virtue,
faithful in keeping my promises, unflagging in attending to my duties, and conscientious in following through scrupulously on commitments made.

Let me hold in check with chains
of grace all evil and ignoble actions, and let me not be hobbled or manacled by sinful temptations.

Let me never use the cowardly weapons of deceit, personal insult, falsehood
or ridicule, no matter what
the circumstance.

Let me go forth, My Lord, pledged
to aid the poor and the defenseless.

Let me live so that it can be said
of me, “He fought the battle fairly and fiercely to the end. He carried his banner high, and served his Lord and Master wisely and well.”

All this I pray before Your altar,
Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords,
King of Kings - that I may one day bow in fealty before Your throne
in the celestial court of heaven.

Please accept this prayer, my Liege,
my King, my God.

Amen

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