Melania the Elder, Monastic, 410
Most High and Merciful God, who called your servant Melania
to forsake earthly comforts in order to devote herself to studying the
scriptures and to welcoming the poor: Instruct us in the ways of poverty and
the grace of hospitality, that we might comfort those who have no place to rest
and teach the way of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Melania the Elder, (born in Spain, ca. 350–died in
Jerusalem before 410 or in c. 417) was a Desert Mother who was an influential
figure in the Christian ascetic movement (the Desert Fathers and Mothers) that
sprang up in the generation after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity a
legal religion of the Roman Empire.*
*The
Lectionary, http://satucket.com/lectionary/Melania_elder.html