Emmaus Retreat Prayer

I attended the North Georgia Women's Walk to Emmaus, where I sat at the Table of Deborah.

If you've been on this retreat, you recognize the pattern. You have your own Emmaus identifier. Your own version of the secret handshake. In the early 1990s, when I attended my retreat, I was married to an associate United Methodist minister. The "on fire" Methodists in our parish were drafted one-by-one to go to the Emmaus Retreat. For many, it was a turning point, a springboard for deep conversion.

At the retreat, we learned a new prayer, and it became our theme. We claimed it as our great petition. We recited it together when we met in small reunion groups.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Little did we know. . . this prayer came from a book we didn't even recognize as part of the canon of Sacred Scripture. When we memorized the Books of the Bible (as children in Sunday School classes), this one wasn't among the titles.
We simply did not realize that this prayer - this beautiful Emmaus prayer - was spoken by Judith. We didn't know that it was lifted from the pages of a book we had never read. We had no idea what we were missing. Oh, Judith, your story is such a treasure! Oh, that more and more people would come to know this story . . . and learn of your great courage and unwavering devotion!

Judith 16
Make music to my God with drums,
sing to my Lord with cymbals.
Begin a new song to him,
extol and call upon his name.
You are the God who crushes battle-lines,
you set up your camp among your people,
you save me from the grip of my persecutors.
I will sing a new song to God:
Lord, you are great and glorious,
wonderful in your unconquerable power.
Let all your creatures serve you,
for you spoke and they were made,
you sent forth your spirit, and they were created:
there is no-one who can resist your command.
For the mountains will be shaken to their roots,
the seas will be stirred up,
at your sight the rocks will melt like wax –
but to those who fear you,
you will show your loving kindness.

*This passage was reprinted from the Universalis website.

**To read more from the Book of Judith, click here.