Prayers of Lent
Ash Wednesday
Beginning of Lent
Return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the Lord, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.Joel 2: 12-13
Long ago I packed up my belongings and departed from my Father's house. I had everything I needed there, but I thought it was not enough. I imagined that I could do better on my own, so I took what I had coming to me and set out in search of my own happiness.
I ended up a stranger in a foreign land. I squandered everything I had on one promise after another until I was left with nothing. And now I am lost and alone in a place far from home. Am I to wander forever in this land of tears?
Finally I see that the only way to find happiness is to return to my Father. But will I be welcome in his house? Is God's love greater than my waywardness? How can I return to my Father with such a burden of sin? Will God forgive?
Lord, I long to return to you. I cry out to you for mercy and forgiveness. I see now after all my searching that your love is all I need. I beg you to put my sins behind you and take me back. Though I have wandered far away from you, though I do not deserve a place in your house, I ask you to forgive my sins, and change my heart, and lead me back to you.
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Thursday
Beginning of Lent
If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross each day and follow me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose himself?Luke 9: 23-25
God is everything and I am nothing. The only purpose for which I was created is to give glory to God. But I have resisted this purpose for as long as I can remember. My mind does not doubt for a moment the truth of it, but my heart wants no part of it. This resistance has become so deeply rooted in me that I could not rid myself of it even if I wanted to. I think only of myself. I act always in my own interest, and I do everything for my glory.
This is my original sin. I was born with it, and when I reached the age of reason I embraced it wholeheartedly. I am enslaved by it to this day, and I am certain that I will take it to my grave.
But as long as I am in the bondage of this original sin I cannot fulfill the purpose for which I was created. And if I cannot fulfill this purpose I will always be something less than a man. No matter what I gain in my time on earth, I will have lost my soul.
The only way to become fully human is to follow the Lord. Jesus who is God emptied himself of his divinity and became the perfect man. His whole life was an act of worship of the Father. He became nothing, even to the point of laying down his life, to give glory to God.
Standing in my place he did what I could never do. By dying for me he freed me from the bondage of my sins and gave me hope. From now on I need only trust him, take up my cross in imitation of him, and walk in his footsteps.
Lord Jesus Christ, I cannot ponder enough how great is your love that you would give your very life for me on the cross. I pray for the courage to carry my little cross in imitation of you. May I follow you faithfully in this life so that I may give you glory for all eternity in the kingdom of heaven.
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Friday
Beginning of Lent
You take no delight in sacrifices;
burnt offerings you do not accept.
My sacrifice is a contrite heart;
a humbled, contrite heart you will not refuse.Psalm 51
The only lenten practice God will accept from me is fasting of the heart. My heart is made for God, but I withhold it from him like a petulant child and give it shamelessly to every fancy that comes my way.
Unless I give my heart to God I will never know real love. God alone can fill the emptiness that aches inside me. But before I can give myself wholeheartedly to him, I must empty myself of everything that is not God, of all that is only a pretense of love. So I clothe my heart in sackcloth and sit in the ashes of my self-centeredness and begin a humble fast of the heart. Perhaps then God will look with favor on me.
Lord, I love you with all my heart. I make this my prayer because it is your first commandment, though I hardly know what it means to love you. But I place my trust in you, and I give you my poor heart. If you will only love me, I will have all that I need.
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Saturday
Beginning of Lent
Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
Save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; pity me, Lord;
to you I cry all day long.Psalm 86
If I were an angel or a saint, my prayers would be pure acts of worship of God. I would be so absorbed in the contemplation of his goodness and beauty that I would not be able to think of anything else. I would never stop praying. I would want nothing but to lift up my soul to the Lord in joyful praise without ceasing.
But my prayers are not like this. They are in fact hardly about God at all, but about me. They are mostly the desperate cries of a man in need - prayers for forgiveness, for peace, for security, for happiness, and above all for acceptance and love.
I am a poor and needy child before God. I live with uncertainty and fear and brokenness. I live with sin. I cannot save myself, so I reach out to the Lord in hope and trust. He is after all the God who listens, the God who loves, and the One who saves.
My Father, I come before you a fearful child. I place my poor life in your hands. Embrace me with your love and lead me to grow in faith and courage. Remove all my fears that I may live for you alone and give you glory by all that I am and all that I do.
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First Sunday of Lent
Lent - First Week
When the Egyptians treated us harshly, and oppressed us by imposing hard labor on us, we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders. And he brought us to this place, and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.Deuteronomy 26: 6-9
The Bible, though written over many centuries and comprised of many books, contains only one story line. It is that salvation comes from the mighty hand of God to those who cry out to him in faith and trust.
In the beginning some thought that all the salvation they needed was a secure homeland, a place where they could live in freedom and prosperity. Some still think this is all they need. They fool themselves into thinking that God has heard their prayers and taken their side, that he favors them and blesses whatever they do.
But this is not the salvation that comes from the mighty hand of God. The Lord makes no promises about earthly life. Those who trust in the Lord for this life only will always be disappointed.
The salvation that God promises to those who keep faith is eternal life. The homeland to which he leads faithful people is the kingdom of heaven. It is a spiritual kingdom, a land flowing with the milk and honey of God's everlasting love. Only those who place all their trust in God and walk humbly in his ways will enter this kingdom and rest in the shelter of his love. They alone will live in eternal peace.
Lord God of power and might, we trust in your mercy and love. Guide us on the way to salvation. Keep us faithful to your law of love and protect us in every trial until we reach the end of our earthly journey and enter the promised land of your peace.
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Monday
Lent - First Week
"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you?"
"Whatever you did for the least of my brothers, you did for me."Matthew 25: 37-40
I search for God everywhere. I call out to him in prayer day and night. I believe in him with all my heart, and I want nothing more than to be with him, to take comfort in his nearness and to be filled with his love. The more I grow in faith, the harder it is for me to be separated from him.
For reasons I do not understand, God does not reveal himself to me outright. He leaves traces of his presence in my life, but he will not draw back the veil and let me see him face to face. Perhaps it is because I am not ready. It is said that no one can look on the face of God and live.
The closest I come to seeing God on this side of heaven is when I look into the face of someone in need. The image of God I see in the face of a brother or a sister may not be what I expect God to look like, but it is the only face God will show me in this earthly life. If I really want to see God, I must look for him here. If I do not recognize him in my brother, I will be a stranger to him in heaven, and I will have no place in his kingdom.
Lord God, Creator and Father of all the children of the earth, give me the eyes of faith that I may see your goodness and beauty reflected in all my brothers and sisters. As you have raised me up and nurtured me with your tender love, may I love you in return by opening my heart and hands to my brother in need.
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Tuesday
Lent - First Week
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and rescues them from all their distress.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
those who are crushed in spirit he saves.Psalm 34
To be heartbroken at times is part of the human condition. We cannot love well enough on our own to be whole persons. To love purely requires a degree of self-emptying that we are simply not capable of. This is a distressing realization. When we fail at love, as we often do, we are crushed.
This does not mean that we do not love at all. Most of us act in the interest of others at least sometimes. But these moments of selflessness are infrequent and they usually come unexpectedly. They are if anything moments of grace.
What these moments teach us about the love that is at the heart of our humanity is that all love is grace. The only way to attain love, and with it wholeness of being, is to cry out to the Lord for it, to acknowledge that it is pure gift, that it is given only to those whose hearts are open to goodness, to those who are just. True love is given only to those who pray.
O Lord God, I cry out to you in my need. Heal my brokenness and fill me with your love. Raise up my spirit anew that I may see by the light of your truth and walk with you in faith and holiness now and forever.
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Wednesday
Lent - First Week
A pure heart create in me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
nor take from me your Holy Spirit.Psalm 51
God created me pure and innocent. In the beginning I was intimately close to him, and between us there was nothing but love. I do not remember this time of innocence; I know of it only as a truth of faith.
As soon as I began to know myself, sin entered my life, and the bond of love that kept me close to God was broken. I made choices one after another that hardened me into who I am. I closed myself so tightly around my heart that God could no longer get in.
I have become my own prisoner, confined in the dark cell of my being and weighed down by the guilt of my sins. I long to become once again the innocent child God made me in the beginning. I wish for freedom, and the warm sunshine of love, and the joy of being alive.
O Lord God of mercy and love, do not cast me away from your presence forever as my sins deserve. Fill my heart once again with your love, and purify me of all that is not worthy of you. Renew me by the power of your Holy Spirit, and make me steadfast in loving you.
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Thursday
Lent - First Week
Who among you would give his son a stone when he asks for bread, or give him a snake if he asks for fish? If you who are evil know enough to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.Matthew 7: 9-11
God gives me everything I need. The things I need most, the essentials without which I could not continue to exist, God provides without my giving a thought to them. I never think about where my next breath will come from, or whether my body will keep working, or if I will wake up tomorrow. If these things depended on my keeping them constantly in mind and praying to God for them, I would have died in the first minutes of my life.
But though my life does not depend on me, it depends entirely on God. If God did not keep me constantly in mind, if he turned his attention away from me even for a moment, I would instantly cease to be.
God must get annoyed with me sometimes when I complain to him that I do not get everything I want. He sustains me with his creative power and tender love every minute of the day. I must weary him with my silly prayers. He has already given me more than I can ever comprehend. How can I possibly ask for more?
Father in heaven, I do not ask for anything but your love. I trust you. I believe that everything you give and whatever you withhold is for my good. I give you thanks for your holy will, which guides me in this life and leads me to eternal life with you.
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Friday
Lent - First Week
When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.Matthew 5: 23-24
God puts only one condition on his otherwise boundless love and mercy - that we forgive others in the same measure that God forgives us.
This one condition expresses the moral imperative of the Gospel in its entirety. Every other formulation of a moral code is a human invention, which we are bound to follow not to be faithful believers but to meet the minimum requirements of our humanity.
The Gospel challenges us to be more than minimally human. It calls us to be holy, to manifest the holiness that God placed in us when he created us in his own image and breathed his Spirit into us. This call to holiness demands that we love as we have been loved, that we forgive as we have been forgiven. If we do not respond to this call and heed the demands of love, we cannot approach God. Our offerings will not be accepted, our prayers will go unheard, and we will have no place in the kingdom of heaven.
Lord God, I will try with all the faith I have in me to open my heart to others as you have loved me. On the strength of this promise I come before you in prayer. I ask you to fill up what is lacking in my faith that I may grow in holiness and be welcome one day in your eternal kingdom.
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Saturday
Lent - First Week
You have heard it said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you: love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For God makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and sends rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.Matthew 5: 43-45
Jesus' words are blunt: love those who do evil to you. No one has ever given a commandment as difficult as this. Human nature recoils at such an idea. It is surprising that Jesus had any followers at all. But it is at the heart of the message that Jesus brings to the world. God is the Father of all the children of the earth, and he loves each one of them unconditionally. And his desire for us is that we love one another as he loves us.
Lord Jesus, I pray for my enemies, as you prayed for yours. But I do not truly pray as you do. For although I heed your command to love my enemy, I can love him only until I see his face. Then I recoil from him, and I cannot love him.
Lord Jesus, help my unbelief. You have taught me that you never cease to embrace the penitent. If you forgive my enemy, then I too must forgive him. Take from me the burden of my hatred. Help me to see as you see, and to love as you love, that I may not be left outside, but may be welcome in the circle of your love.
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Second Sunday of Lent
Lent - Second Week
Our citizenship is in heaven, from where we eagerly await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorified body through his power to subject all things to himself.Philippians 3: 20-21
No matter what we accomplish in life, if we do not complete a spiritual transformation that makes us like the risen Lord, we will have failed our humanity.
We do not belong to this world. Our time spent here is meant to prepare us for something far better. We are created to dwell with God for all eternity and to share in the fullness of his love. But we cannot receive his love without a transformation, a self-emptying by which we let go of all that we are and open ourselves to the creative and sanctifying power of love.
No human has the capacity for such self-emptying, even though we cannot be fullfilled without it. Our most basic instincts compel us to cling to what we are, to preserve ourselves at all costs. If it depended on us, we would never achieve the purpose for which we were created. All life would end in futility; the only logical response to the human condition would be despair.
But God did not create us for futility. Our salvation, like our life itself, does not depend on us. God sent us a Savior. He became man himself, he took on a mortal body, and he laid it down in the ultimate act of self-emptying, so that all mortal flesh could be transformed and share in the glory of resurrection and eternal life.
All God asks of us is that we accept his gift of love and believe in the transformation that makes us his holy and beloved children.
God our Father, so great is your love for us that you gave us your only Son who laid down his life for our salvation. Pour into our hearts the gift of faith that we may be transformed by the saving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and share in the glory of his resurrection.
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Monday
Lent - Second Week
Do not hold against us the evils of the past;
may your compassion come quickly to us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, God our savior,
for the glory of your name.
Deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name's sake.Psalm 79
In my quiet times of prayer and reflection, I am often troubled by thoughts of my past sins. I think of all those I have hurt by my angry outbursts or resentful silence, by my careless words or thoughtless negligence. I think about my arrogance and willfulness and self-indulgence. I think with regret of all the opportunities for good that I let slip by. I look at what I have made myself, and consider how little I have grown in the life of faith, what little I have done with the gifts God has given me, and I am filled with shame. God must be very disappointed with me.
Then I remind myself that God foresaw what I would become from all eternity but he created me anyway. God's love runs that deep. He loves me so much that he created me even though he knew all the heartache I would cause him.
When I reach the point that I can begin to understand this, when I see how much God loves me, and how his love is the only thing that matters in my life, I am set free from the past and I begin to live in hope. Every new day is just that - a new day. Each day is an invitation to me to become a new person, not weighed down by all the choices that have made me who I am, but set free by love.
I am just beginning to understand.
O God, my merciful and loving Father, hold not against me the sins of my past, or I will be without hope. Do not treat me as my sins deserve, but soften my hard heart and renew my spirit by the power of your love, that I may walk in freedom on the way to eternal life.
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Tuesday
Lent - Second Week
Do not call anyone on earth your father; you have only one Father in heaven. Do not be called teachers; Christ is your only teacher. The greatest among you will be the one who serves. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.Matthew 23: 9-12
Christ is my only teacher. His truth is different from that of other teachers. He does not teach a multitude of truths of the mind but the one truth of the heart. He teaches it not by speaking it but by giving it flesh in his own person. It rises above the limits of human understanding and cuts deep in the heart.
The truth of Christ is that God is everything and apart from him I am nothing. Whatever I make myself is false; only by surrendering myself to his Spirit dwelling in me do I become my true self. If I exalt myself apart from God I make myself less than a man. Only when I admit the truth about myself in humility, when I acknowledge my utter poverty and dependence on God, can his creative power begin to work in me.
Then I become the unimaginable - a son of God. The Spirit of the Father and the Son overshadows me and fills my soul with grace. Out of my lowliness I become a wonder of God's love. This is a truth worth believing with all my heart.
Lord God, my only prayer is that your will be done. You alone are the way to truth and life. All that I am comes from you, and I give it back to you in trust and love.
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Wednesday
Lent - Second Week
You do not know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?Matthew 20: 22
If my prayer time were actually a two-way conversation with God, his first response after listening to me would be, "Do you realize what you are asking for?"
I am drawn to faith because I sense that what I am looking for can be found nowhere else. God alone can satisfy my deepest needs - the need for meaning and direction, for security and contentment, for permanence and fulfillment, for unending happiness.
I am sure that God will satisfy my needs, but I am learning that he will do it only on his terms. I have to pay a high price for the life of faith. I have to follow it to places I do not want to go. I have to drink of the cup of the human condition. The fulfillment I seek is found only on the far side of the cup and the cross.
This is the mystery of faith revealed by the life of Jesus. He is the paradigm of humanity, the way, the truth, and the life. His life reveals that the only way to reach fulfillment is through self-emptying, through dying like the grain of wheat, through laying down life so that God can take it up and make it into something completely new and unimaginably better.
Lord Jesus Christ, I place my trust in you, and I give you my life. With what little faith and courage I have, I resolve to follow you. Keep close at hand, for I am unsteady, and guide me along the way, that I may one day reach the end of my journey in the kingdom of heaven.
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Thursday
Lent - Second Week
More devious than all else is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the Lord, alone probe the mind
and test the heart,
to reward each according to his ways,
according to the merit of his deeds.Jeremiah 17: 9-10
I move a step closer to the truth about myself when I admit that I cannot always trust my own heart. My heart does not always choose what is best. It acts in its own interest, and protects at all cost what it holds dear. It avoids hard choices and goes after what pleases it. It answers to no one. It makes its choices thinking that no one sees. But God sees it all.
If I could ask for one thing of the Lord, I would ask for purity of heart, for my heart is the source of all my troubles. I cannot be free of all that weighs me down in life as long as I think only of myself. Only when I place my life in God's hands and trust in his love can I find happiness and peace.
Lord God, I give you my heart, poor as it is. Change this heart by the power of your love. Renew my spirit that I may walk with you in faith and do your will with an open and joyful heart.
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Friday
Lent - Second Week
The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruits.Matthew 21: 43
I should learn a lesson from the people of Jesus' time and never be complacent about the gifts of my birth. I do not know why God put me in a place where I could be raised in the Christian faith. I could have been born elsewhere, and raised in an entirely different faith, or in no faith at all. I certainly cannot presume that God placed me where I am because he favors me over others. I should never dare to think that I can know the mind of God.
I believe that through no merit of my own I have been given the inestimable gift of the one true faith. I do not say that my Church is better than others; the list of its sins is longer than the list of my own. My faith is not in my Church, it is in Christ who is the one truth and the only way to eternal life. After faith in Jesus Christ there is nothing more to say.
This faith has been given to me not as a possession but as a calling and a challenge. I have to follow Christ on the way to salvation. I have to imitate him in laying down my life by dying to my self-centeredness, by emptying myself of all that is not of God. If I do not follow him, this gift of faith will be taken from me and given to others more deserving.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of God, I accept your invitation to follow you in the life of faith. But I am poor in the things of the Spirit, and my steps are faltering. Strengthen me with an abundance of grace, that I may be steadfast in following you, and yield a rich harvest of goodness for the kingdom of heaven.
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Saturday
Lent - Second Week
God does not treat us as our sins deserve,
nor repay us according to our faults.
As the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our sins from us.Psalm 103
God's love for me is far beyond my ability to comprehend it. His mercy has no limits. He wants nothing more than to remove my sins from me and cast them behind him forever. But he is prevented from doing it.
God cannot take away my sins until I am willing to let go of them. While God's infinite mercy awaits me, I cling to all my faults. I give my heart to every passing fancy and put my hopes on the emptiest of promises. This has been my way for as long as I can remember. But still God's patience endures.
I do not deserve mercy after all this time, but God's love runs so deep that it remains steadfast in spite of my sins. The time has come for me to make things right, to tear down my defenses, and to let go of all that separates me from God and his love.
Lord God, I am deeply sorry for all my sins, for all that I have done to offend you. I am not worthy of your love, but I humbly pray that you will not treat me as I deserve, but soften my hard heart, that I may at last be open to your love.
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Third Sunday of Lent
Lent - Third Week
God said to Moses, "Come no closer. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.Exodus 3: 5-6
Throughout human history God has made his presence known in various ways to shine the light of his love in the darkness of man's existence. At opportune times God has drawn back the veil that covers his holiness to give a glimpse of himself. But so far removed is man from the glory of God that he can do nothing but cover his eyes in the presence of God for fear of looking upon his face.
But God cannot bear to let even his holiness prevent us from being touched by his love. So in the fullness of time he put aside the veil entirely, and emptied himself of his glory, and became man. He became one of us so that at last we could look upon the face of God without fear and know beyond any doubt the depth and breadth of his love.
God did not become a mere man. He became the fullness of humanity, man so completely open to God's love that he was and is forever one with God. He gave us his body, his humanity, first by laying it down in the ultimate act of caring on the cross; then for all time in the bread of communion, so that the veil that separates us from holiness would be removed forever.
Now that the body of Christ is with us, we are always on holy ground. I cannot hide my face from God's glory because it is everywhere. When I close my eyes and look inward, it is there. When I look at the face of a brother or sister, it is there. It is present in the most despised, in the worst evildoer, even in the face of my enemy. All ground is holy because God, who is the ground of all being, it everywhere.
God our Father, you so love the world that you gave us your beloved Son to show us the depth of your love and to lead us to eternal life. Open our hearts to the love of your Son present everywhere in the world. May we follow him in faith to the kingdom of heaven where we long to dwell with you forever.
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Monday
Lent - Third Week
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I go and see the face of God?Psalm 42
Human life is nearly unbearable when it is lived without a sense of purpose. We need a reason to wake up each morning and face another day. And to face the day with any sense of hope, the reason for living must be a good one.
The ultimate purpose of human life, what gives it meaning and direction, what makes it worth living, cannot be found anywhere in this world. We were not created for this world. Our time here is in reality very short, and it ends in death, which brings all earthly things to nothing. If life offered nothing more than this, it would be utterly hopeless.
We were created for heaven, and the ultimate purpose of life is to get there. Our only purpose is to be with God, and to abide with him forever in the fullness of love. Our deepest longing, which we all feel but which most of us cannot express, is to see the face of God. This longing comes from God himself. It burns in the heart of each of us. And only God can satisfy it.
Our time on earth is intended to prepare us for heaven. It is a time to grow in love. Of all the things we do on earth, only our acts of love, few though they may be, fulfill our purpose. It is not too late to think again of what we are all about. But the time for getting ready is running short.
O Lord God, my soul thirsts for you. I long to be with you and to see your face. Open my heart to your Holy Spirit dwelling in me, that I may grown in love. And hasten the day when I am with you at last in the kingdom of heaven.
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Tuesday
Lent - Third Week
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."Matthew 18: 21-22
Scholars sometimes use the term Semitic hyperbole to explain Scripture texts that are not meant to be taken literally. Thus the instruction that if your hand causes you to sin you should cut it off does not really call for anything quite that drastic. And the idea that if you have enough faith you can move mountains is just meant to make the point that you can accomplish a lot with faith.
But one text that is not Semitic hyperbole is Jesus' answer to Peter's question about how many times he should forgive an offending brother. Peter may have employed a bit of hyperbole himself when he proffered the suggestion that he might forgive seven times. But Jesus' response was that seven times is not nearly enough. He instead gave the number seventy-seven, which was a way of saying that there must be no limit to our willingness to forgive a brother or sister, just as there is no limit to God's willingness to forgive us.
And his answer was no exaggeration. He meant exactly what he said. We must forgive our brother from the heart over and over again. This is a commandment given on God's own authority, and it is not negotiable.
God our Father, every day we ask you to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Give us the grace to truly mean this prayer. Open our eyes to see how great is our need for your mercy and forgiveness that we may also understand our need to forgive others from the heart.
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Wednesday
Lent - Third Week
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law until all things have taken place.Matthew 5: 17-18
One of the hardest lessons to learn in life, one that is learned only after many painful mistakes and much soul searching, is that the only way to be happy is to do the will of God. The will of God is not easy to discern. This is what makes life so difficult: that the secret to living it well is hidden much of the time.
But God does not leave us completely in the dark about his will. He gives us clear direction through his divine law, a road map for the journey of life that is not only preserved in our tradition but also written in our hearts. And as long as we follow this law, we will never be lost.
The law is most succinctly expressed in the great commandment to love God with all our heart. If we heed this commandment and follow it well, we can be certain that we are on the right path. Every other commandment of the law is a concrete expression of this one great commandment of love. Every other commandment points the way to love either by showing us how to grow in our capacity to love or by guiding us to love our neighbor whom we see as a way of loving God whom we cannot see.
The law of God is not a burden; it is a precious gift. It does not limit the spirit of man; it sets him free.
Lord God, you give us your law to guide our steps on the way to eternal life. Give us the wisdom to see the clear signs of your will in our daily life and the faith to follow you unreservedly.
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Thursday
Lent - Third Week
This is what I commanded my people: listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.
But they did not obey, nor did they heed my words. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.Jeremiah 7: 23-24
When I hear the words of the Lord's lament over the infidelity of his people spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, my first thought is that these words have never been more true than they are today. I look at all the evil around me and think that the world has all but turned its back on God.
But I have to remind myself sometimes that the words of the Lord spoken in the sacred texts are addressed first and foremost to me. The world might be filled with evil, but most of it is not my doing, nor is it in my control. But I still have to listen to the word of God as it is spoken to me, and look into my own heart. The Lord's lament applies to me too.
Often enough I have turned my back on the Lord. For as long as I can remember I have resisted God's word, resisted his invitations to grace, resisted opportunities to grow in love and humanness. And a lifetime of resistance has left me desolate and alone in the hardness of my own heart.
But the invitation to grace is never withdrawn. God's willingness to forgive and forget has no limits. It is never too late to start listening to the voice of the Lord that speaks deep within me, the voice that speaks words of love and hope, the voice that can gently but surely soften my hard heart and change me into a new man.
There is still hope that I will one day see God face to face, and marvel at the radiance of his beauty, and live in the warmth of his love.
Lord God of mercy and love, I humbly beg your forgiveness for all my sins. Purify my heart of all the hardness in me that resists your grace. May I walk with you in steadfast faith until I reach the end of my earthly journey and see you face to face in the kingdom of heaven.
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Friday
Lent - Third Week
I heard a voice I had not heard before:
"I relieved your shoulders of your burden;
your hands I freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you."Psalm 81
God did not create us for futility. He did not bring us into this world only to have us labor all our lives under the burden of the human condition. He does not intend that we toil and struggle year after year only to finally reach the end of our days and be laid in the earth, making it all for nothing.
God created us for eternal life. We cannot see the life that awaits us in the future, but if we are to live in a fully human way we must keep this future ever before us and reach out to it constantly in hope.
In the face of the challenges and burdens of human existence, my first act of faith must be to be grateful for my own life. All of my meaning and worth comes from the imponderable truth that my very being is a gift of God. If I do not believe in this truth, it makes no sense to believe in anything at all. If I do not embrace my life as a gift, and live each moment of it as an act of worship, I will be nothing more than a man under a death sentence waiting out my time.
Lord God of heaven and earth, I call out to you in my distress. Rescue me from the seeming futility of my life. Shine the light of your love upon me that I may see the way to you. Lift me up with your sure hand that I may walk steadfastly on the path to eternal life.
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Saturday
Lent - Third Week
Two men went to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed to himself in this way: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, greedy, dishonest, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay a tithe on everything I get."
But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "O God, have mercy on me a sinner."Luke 18: 10-13
We go about our lives wearing a variety of disguises. We started wearing them at a very early age because we saw things in ourselves that we did not want anyone else to see. And some of us have been wearing them for so long that we no longer realize that we have them on. We have grown so used to our disguises that we think they are our real self.
But there is one place where our disguises cannot hide our true self, and that is in prayer. God is not fooled by appearances; he sees everything. We cannot really pray until we are willing to be brutally honest with ourselves. That is why we are told that when we pray we should go to an inner room, and close the door, and pray to our Father in secret.
In the honesty of prayer we face painful truths about ourselves which are best dealt with in private. But once we get through the pain we begin to see that what we have been hiding all this time is actually the best thing we have to show to the world.
What we have been hiding is our true self, a self created by God in his own image, a self that we foolishly decided long ago was not good enough, not beautiful enough, a self that we have kept hidden for fear that it is not lovable enough.
It is time to shed the layers of disguise we have piled up on ourselves and let our true self shine through so that it may give glory to God.
O Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. I have sinned against you by judging that what you have created in me is not good enough. I have tried to remake myself in an image of my own choosing, and in doing so I have made myself false. Fill me with the light of your truth that I may see myself as I really am, and give you glory by being the son you created me to be.
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Fourth Sunday of Lent
Lent - Fourth Week
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, he has become new.2 Corinthians 5: 17
When I profess that I believe in God as my Creator, I acknowledge at least implicitly that God did not create me only at the beginning of my life, but that he creates me at every moment of my life. God did not simply call me into existence once and then leave me on my own. I am constantly being created anew and called into an ongoing communion with my Creator.
The call to ongoing communion with God is the fullest expression of his will for me. God's will is not so much about what he wants me to do as it is about who he wants me to be. It is a mystery known only to God that he wants me to be the person I am. He must have his reasons for creating me as I am, with the small gifts he has given me and with my many limitations. God must somehow think that his world is a better place because I am here, even if I cannot see how it is so. Who am I to think more than God?
If I am to believe in God, I must believe in the ongoing work of creation he is doing in me. Of all the beautiful things God creates in this world, he chose me to be one of them. He wants me to let his work be so that he can admire it and love it. After all, the only reason he keeps creating me is so that he can love me, and that by loving him in return I can give him glory.
Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, I believe that all the work of your hand is inestimably good. Give me the eyes of faith that I may see the goodness and beauty of your creation in the world around me, in myself, and in all my brothers and sisters.
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Monday
Lent - Fourth Week
I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
I will create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall weeping be heard there
or the cry of distress.Isaiah 65: 17-19
The sufferings of this world are almost too much to think about. One in every seven people suffers from chronic malnutrition, and 25,000 die of starvation each day. Millions of children in poor countries die each year from common diseases that are easily prevented or treated in affluent countries. Thousands of non-combatants are killed in armed conflicts each year and millions are uprooted and displaced. Millions of women and children work long hours in factories or fields in virtual slavery. One in four girls is sexually exploited or abused in childhood.
All of these sufferings and many more have in common that they are caused by humans, either directly through exploitation or indirectly through indifference. Even though we have the means to change all this, we do not seem to have the collective will to change any of it. And this failure of will makes us all complicit in grave sin.
The best we can hope for is redemption. It is not an abdication of responsibility to wait for a Savior; it is an act of faith. Individually we are powerless to make any but the smallest change in the world. But in faith we can look forward to a transformation of all things, to the coming of the kingdom of God in judgment and power, to the creation of a new earth.
The sufferings of the present age, terrible though they may be, cannot be compared to the salvation that awaits us if we keep faith.
O Lord our God, look with compassion on the suffering of your children. Hear our cry of distress and send your Holy Spirit upon us to comfort us in our affliction and guide us to eternal life.
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Tuesday
Lent - Fourth Week
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever present help in distress.
We will not fear, though the earth be shaken
and the mountains quake to the depths of the sea.Psalm 46
I sometimes lie awake at night thinking of all the ways that my world could come tumbling down around me. I could become very sick and not be able to take care of myself. I could cause a serious accident for which I could be liable for extensive damages. I could be the victim of a serious crime. I could suffer financial losses and face an uncertain future. Something terrible could happen to a member of my family. The possibilities are endless. Nothing in this life is certain.
I cannot live without faith. I often remind myself when I am overcome with anxiety that I am safe in God's hands, that no matter what happens to me I need not fear because God is with me. Even if all the worst calamities I can think of came to pass, I would still have the one thing I need to get through it all, and that is God's rock-solid love.
What other reason do I need for remaining as faithful to him as I can be?
O Lord God, you are my strength in times of distress. You give me shelter against the raging storms of life. I do not fear the passing storms because you are with me, guiding and protecting me in this life, and leading me surely to the life to come in your eternal kingdom.
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Wednesday
Lent - Fourth Week
Can a mother forget her infant,
show no tenderness to the child of her womb?
Even if she were to forget,
I will never forget you.Isaiah 49: 15
At the times when I committed my most shameful sins, God was there. On some of those occasions I was even dimly aware of his presence, but I sinned anyway. I often thought, "I will have to come to terms with him, but not yet."
The time for coming to terms has long since passed. Some of my sins no longer control me as they once did. This is not because I have become a stronger person, or more virtuous, or holier. I am the same person I always was. What is different is that my eyes have been opened and I see how much God loves me and how much is at stake when I reject his love.
I have come to understand that even though God was always present and saw all my secret sins, his love has never changed. Nothing I have ever done has caused his love for me to be diminished in the least. Though I have done everything in my power to run from him and hide myself, he has never forgotten me.
I see now that God's steadfast love is the only thing in this world that I want or need. And now that I know this, how can I ever let sin separate me from the God who loves me so tenderly?
Loving Father, I give you my heart. You loved me with the tenderness of a Father long before I knew you. You placed a longing for you in my heart and waited patiently for me to seek you. I seek you now, and I long to be with you. Keep the flame of love burning brightly in my heart until I come home to you.
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Thursday
Lent - Fourth Week
They made a calf at Horeb
and adored a molten image.
They exchanged their glorious God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot the God who saved them,
who did great deeds in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
Then he spoke of destroying them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.Psalm 106
Throughout human history mankind has tried the patience of God. Again and again God has offered a covenant to man, a promise of steadfast love and providential care in return for faith and obedience. But man has repeatedly rejected God's covenant. We have no problem with God's offer of love and care, but the faith and obedience is too much for us.
At times man has tried the patience of God almost to its limits. Ours is such a time. Our age has shown an immense capacity for depravity. We have used the marvelous advances of our culture and technology to sink to unimaginable depths of social decadence and human exploitation. The wrath of God is boiling over.
In the past the wrath of God has been assuaged by the faith of a few. In times of crisis someone has withstood God in the breach and interceded on behalf of sinful humanity. The only hope for our age is that once again the faith of the few will be enough to hold back the hand of God.
Who among us today has enough faith to stand in the breach?
O Lord God of justice and mercy, we beg you to hold back your just wrath and do not judge us as our sins deserve. Hear the prayers of your faithful who cry out to you for mercy. Accept our faith and obedience offered on behalf of all your people and keep us all in your steadfast love and care.
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Friday
Lent - Fourth Week
If the just one is the son of God, he will help him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
Let us test him with insult and torture
to find out how gentle he is
and test his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for according to his own words
God will protect him.Wisdom 2: 18-20
In today's world, torn apart by dissention and conflict, everyone claims to have God on his side. Everyone claims to be in the right and to speak the truth. Anyone who disagrees is not just an opponent but an enemy. In the name of truth every sort of falsehood is disseminated, the most heinous crimes are condoned, and venomous hate is cast upon the world. And some are so bold as to claim all of this in the name of God.
Jesus faced the same things in his time. He did not claim to have God on his side. Instead he committed himself unreservedly to being on God's side. His life was about only one thing - doing the will of his Father. He surrendered his own will in total obedience to the will of God.
Many of his contemporaries saw this kind of obedience as a dangerous thing. They convinced themselves that for the good of everyone he should be done away with. In the name of tradition and right and truth they had him crucified.
But a most unexpected thing happened. He was raised from the dead. It turned out that the God to whom he had surrendered himself was on his side after all. It turned out that the way of obedience was the right way.
This is why God became man in the first place - to show us the right way.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, true God and true man, teach me the way of obedience. By the power of your Holy Spirit give me the grace to surrender my will as you did to the will of the Father. Guide me in the way of truth and lead me to eternal life.
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Saturday
Lent - Fourth Week
You, Lord, showed me their evil deeds.
But I was like a trusting lamb led to the slaughter.
I did not know they were hatching plots against me.
"Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will be spoken no more."Jeremiah 11: 18-19
The word of God is too much truth for the world to hear. It was too much when the reluctant prophet Jeremiah conveyed it to his countrymen, who thought it better to do away with him than to heed his warnings.
It was much too much when Jesus spoke it, Jesus who was himself the embodiment of the Word, who spoke the truth of God in all its fullness. So unbearable was his truth that all his hearers could do was stop up their ears, and shout him down with falsehood, and condemn him to the cross.
The word of God is entrusted to me too. But as long as it remains a private word, locked safe and harmless in my heart, it is not the searing word of God's truth. As long as my faith is conventional and comfortable, it is not much faith. If I am to have true faith, I must eventually acquire the courage of the lamb.
O Lord God, I am a poor man of little faith. But it is to such as me that you entrust your eternal truth. Give me the courage to be faithful to your word and to be a witness to your truth in the world.
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Fifth Sunday of Lent
Lent - Fifth Week
I consider everything else to be loss because of the surpassing good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.Philippians 3: 8
We have only one purpose in life, and it is to be loved by God. This is how we will spend all eternity. Everything else is rubbish.
Our time spent on earth is meant to prepare us to be filled up with God's love. It is a time to learn how to love and to grow in our capacity to love and be loved. Time spent doing anything but this is just rummaging through trash.
The reason why God became man in Jesus Christ was to show us the way to eternal life. He was the perfect model of singleness of purpose. He knew exactly what he was about. His whole life was about doing the will of his Father. He was never unsure about what he should do. He knew, and he wants us to know, that God's will is always about love.
If I want to know what God's will is for me at any moment, I need only ask myself, "What does love demand of me right now?" What it demands in the here and now is God's will for me. Everything else is rubbish.
Lord Jesus Christ, though my faith is weak I desire to follow you in doing the will of the Father. Strengthen my faith that I may imitate you in singleness of purpose. Open my heart that I may see the way and follow you unreservedly to eternal life.
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Monday
Lent - Fifth Week
I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.John 8: 12
In the times of darkness which we all go through we must look at the cross and remember that the One who hangs there is the light of the world. The One who hangs on the cross is the Son of God, coeternal with the Father. But when he became man he emptied himself of his divinity and entered into the darkness of the human condition. He did not just take on the appearance of a man; he became true man. And he did not just give the appearance of suffering and dying; his suffering was real and horrible suffering, and his death was a real and desolate death.
Yet this true man of suffering could say that anyone who follows his example will never walk in darkness. Anyone who lives the human condition as he did, totally obedient to the will of the Father even in the face of the direst of consequences, will walk without fear or uncertainty by the light of life.
If meditating on the cross of Christ seems morbid, perhaps it is because life itself is filled with morbidity. Everything in life flows inexorably toward loss and death. Anyone who clings to life is doomed to bitter disappointment. He may push the thought of it out of his mind for a while, but he will come soon enough to darkness and despair.
Only the one who clings to Christ can live in hope. When we follow Christ we walk in the glorious light of the resurrection. Our end is not the darkness of death but the light of life.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the light of my life. You saved me from darkness and despair by laying down your life for me. By your cross and resurrection you show me the way to eternal life. Shine the light of your love on me always, that I may not falter in my steps but follow you in faith and confidence to the kingdom of heaven.
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Tuesday
Lent - Fifth Week
Lord, hear my prayer;
let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me;
answer me quickly when I call.Psalm 102
All prayer is a cry into the darkness. As long as we are earthbound, as long as the veil of our humanity prevents us from seeing the face of God, we can do nothing in our prayer but call out to the Lord.
As long as we labor under the weight of the human condition, our prayer will always be a cry of distress. In times of respite we might have prayed a different prayer - a prayer of thanksgiving for God's abundant gifts and of offering of self in return for his love and goodness. But we do not always think to pray in good times.
It is in times of distress that we pray best. When we are reduced to the true poverty of our being, when darkness surrounds us and anxiety grips us, when we are at the end of our rope, we pray. Even those who are unsure in their belief pray.
And God listens. He waits patiently for his children to turn to him in prayer. He knows that there is enough sorrow and distress in the world that sooner or later we will all be reduced to desperation and cry out to him in our need.
And our cry is all he needs to hear. It evokes his love to the depths of his Godhood. No one has wandered so far from God that his voice is unfamiliar or his prayer the cry of a stranger. God has been there all along, watching and waiting, knowing and loving.
O Lord God, I cry out to you in my distress. My needs are so many and so deep that I often cannot find words to pray. I can only call out wordlessly into the darkness, hoping you are there and that you will hear me. Let the light of your face shine upon me that I may have hope.
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Wednesday
Lent - Fifth Week
If you live by my words, you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.John 8: 31-32
If you wish to be a true disciple of Jesus you must live by his words. Not just hear and understand and agree with them, but live by them. For most people, even for most Christians, this is too much to ask.
Being a disciple of Jesus means first of all professing that he is not a mere man but the Son of God; and not just any son of God, but true God from true God, begotten not made, one in being with the Father. And this is what makes all the difference. He is God! His words are the fullness of truth and his way is the only way to eternal life.
But living by his words means more than this. It also means following his way and imitating his life. It means taking up a cross, accepting whatever cross is given to you by the inscrutable will of the Father, bearing it in faith, and recognizing that for better or for worse it is your only way to resurrection and eternal life.
One-third of the world's people claim to be Christian. But very few are true disciples. Very few are willing to pay the steep price of living by the word and dying to self, without which they cannot have eternal life. What about you? How much are you willing to pay for discipleship?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, you are the way, the truth, and the life. Give me the faith to open my heart to your word and the courage to take up my cross and follow you.
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Thursday
Lent - Fifth Week
Truly I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death. John 8: 51
If entering the kingdom of heaven and enjoying eternal happiness depended on us, it is safe to say that we would never get there. We have only the vaguest idea of what we must do to gain eternal life, and we rarely follow through on what we suspect we need to do. The best we can hope for is that as long as we live decently while we are on earth, God will save us in spite of everything. And his own revealed words assure us that he will.
So if God is going to save us anyway, why did he go to all the trouble of becoming man and laying down his life for our salvation? He could have saved us just as easily from his place in heaven. He must have had a reason for taking on the burden of manhood, and suffering horribly, and dying an ignominious death.
He did have a reason for going to all this trouble. He did it because he loves us. He saw the plight of his children on earth. He saw how burdensome human life is, how wearying it is to toil year after year in hard labor, how difficult it is to live with rejection and loneliness, how discouraging it is to grow old and frail and to move slowly but surely toward death. The eternal rest and peace of the kingdom of heaven is too distant a goal. We need help now.
God does not want us to be happy only after we die. He wants us to be happy now. So he came down to earth as a man. He brought the kingdom of heaven into the world, or at least a foretaste of it. He made it possible to begin living eternal life now. We no longer have to wait for death to experience heaven. In faith we can live in the splendor of God's love right here on earth. All we have to do is believe and live in faithfulness to his word.
Lord God of heaven and earth, you so love the world that you give us your own beloved Son that we might be freed of the burden of sin and discouragement and live in the hope of eternal life. Open our eyes that we may see the wonder of your love in our midst, and strengthen us that we may walk in faith on the journey of our earthly life as we make our way to your kingdom.
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Friday
Lent - Fifth Week
The swells of death surged round about me;
the destroying floods overwhelmed me.
The cords of death tightened around me;
the snares of death lay in wait for me.
In my distress I called out to the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry reached his ears.Psalm 18
Most of the time we deal with the problem of death by putting it out of our minds. We live as though we were immortal. We work and save and make plans for the future without considering that we might not be here to enjoy it.
But sometimes the thought of death takes us by surprise. It is hard to avoid thinking about it when someone we know dies. We might think about it when we come down with some unexplained ailment and we start poking and prodding ourselves and wonder if we might have an incurable disease. And sometimes the thought of death just overtakes us for no reason and fills us with dread.
If we did not have an answer for the problem of death, life would be unbearable. It would be impossible to carry on with life, to face the toil and struggle, the disappointments and failures, the pain and suffering of it, if we had nothing to hope for.
But hope seems to be an integral part of our being. Man carries on in hope even when he does not know what he hopes for. He reaches out in the darkness not knowing what - or who - to expect. He cries out in his distress not knowing who is listening.
Hope is there because God is there. The God who created us for love will not leave us in desolation. Our cries always reach his ears. Death will not be our end. It is only the beginning.
God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me. Come to my aid in my time of distress and fill me with hope. Shine the light of your love upon me that I may see the way to you.
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Saturday
Lent - Fifth Week
What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our holy place and our nation.John 11: 47-48
We are not born saints. Even those of us who are strongly attracted to the things of God remain very human. We spend most of our lives standing on the threshold of faith mulling over the consequences of believing. We have a vague idea that faith involves letting go and falling into a dark abyss of unknowing. But we keep holding back and asking ourselves if it is expedient to give up control of our lives and take the leap of faith.
As long as our faith is a matter of expediency, it is not really faith. Faith means letting God be in control. It means believing that God knows what he is doing and that he will take care of us no matter what happens. When we stand back and weigh the consequences of surrendering ourselves to God's will, we are as much as saying that we do not really believe that God can handle things.
If we want to become saints, we have to do it the hard way. We have to let go of our defenses, abandon our plans, give up our security, and become like children again and reach out and take God's hand. If we want to be perfect we must go and sell everything we have and give to the poor, and then in poverty and humility follow in the footsteps of the God who once walked among us as a man.
I have to admit that I do not want sainthood this badly. At least not yet. I do not know how much longer I will stand on the threshold of faith weighing the consequences of believing. I hope I am not still standing there when it is too late.
O Lord God, I believe; help my unbelief. Fill my heart with your love that I may live without fear. Enlighten me that I may see the path you set before me, and strengthen me that I may follow you in faith and trust.
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Passion (Palm) Sunday
Holy Week
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. But let your will be done, not mine. Luke 22: 42
As Jesus was preparing for his final confrontation with the authorities in Jerusalem over his controversial ministry, he withdrew at night to a secluded place, as he often did, and prayed. He went to the Mount of Olives, beyond the east wall of Jerusalem and across the Kidron valley, from where he could look out over the city and reflect on what was about to happen there.
We are so far removed in time from the life of Jesus that we tend to forget how human he was. Believers readily profess that he is truly God, but they tend to overlook the far-reaching implications of the fact that he was also truly man. He was a man just like us. He felt the same emotions that we feel, including anxiety and dread. He experienced the suffering of his crucifixion the same way any of us would experience it. The agony in the garden was real agony.
And the prayer in the garden was real prayer. When all is said and done, it is the only prayer we can address to God. In the face of everything, man's only real prayer is, "Let your will be done, not mine." Anything else is less than a prayer.
All of the teaching of Jesus is summarized in this prayer. In fact, the whole reason why God became man was so that he could pray this prayer, and by praying it give us an example of how we should pray - and how we should live.
Father, I face the uncertainties of life with real fear, but I trust in you. May your will be done, and may I accept in faith everything that comes from you.
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Monday
Holy Week
I believe that I shall see
the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord, take courage;
be strong and wait for the Lord.Psalm 27
No one really knows how heavy our burdens are. We might not even be able to express it ourselves. If someone will listen, we try to tell our troubles, but we can never quite put it into words. Some people will look at us and say we have it pretty easy. We might even think that way ourselves sometimes.
But nobody has it easy. The cross, the symbol that is so central to Christian faith, is also a universal symbol of the human condition. We do not carry it all the time. We set it down a lot when we stop and rest along the way of life. But we cannot rest forever. Every life is a journey, and we have to get on with it. And whenever we get back on the road to travel a little farther, we have to pick up our cross and take it with us.
This cross that we carry is the will of God. No one can explain why God does it this way. You would think that if he loves us as much as he has told us he does, he would have made life easier. But the cross is his will, not ours. Complaining about it will not get us to the end of our journey. We just have to pick up our cross and go.
God knows our cross is heavy. But he also knows we can carry it, because the same God who gives us the cross also gives us our capacities. What is burdensome to me might not seem like much to someone else, but it is all I can handle. It is my cross and I carry it the best I can.
And the farther I travel on the journey of faith the more clearly I see that I do not carry it alone.
Lord Jesus Christ, by your example you show me that if I wish to reach the kingdom of heaven I must take up my cross and follow you. Give me the strength and courage to follow you faithfully, that I may reach the end of my journey and rest in the fullness of your love.
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Tuesday
Holy Week
Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow me later. John 13: 36
Christians come in many varieties. But of all the ways to be a Christian, the only authentic one is the way of the cross.
Many accept the Christian faith with enthusiasm. They take the name of Christian and profess their faith proudly. But soon enough they discover that the faith is leading them to a place where they do not want to go.
Faith in Christ always leads to the cross, and not many are willing to follow him there. the only way to become true followers of Christ is to renounce everything else and surrender ourselves in total obedience to the will of God. The only way to gain eternal life is to lay down the life we have in imitation of Christ.
Jesus knew that his closest disciples were not ready to follow him to the cross on Good Friday. Their faith was still in its infancy. And he knows that we have a long way to go before we are ready too. Renouncing our very self is the hardest thing any of us can do. It takes a lifetime of struggling against our old self to reach the point where we are willing to let go.
But if we struggle on in faith and humility, and cling to Christ who went before us, we will one day have the courage to let our old self die and be reborn through the cross of Christ. It is the only way to eternal life.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way, the truth, and the life. Your cross is the only way to salvation. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may have the courage to follow you on the way of the cross.
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Spy Wednesday
Holy Week
One of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?"
The paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.Matthew 26: 14-16
I for one will not be too quick to condemn Judas Iscariot for turning against his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. I have betrayed him myself more times than I can remember for a lot less.
Jesus is my Lord and my All. Living for him is the only life worth living. Yet a day rarely goes by that I do not choose to live for something less. I run after the most meaningless things as though they were worth something. Without even giving it a thought, I sell out the Lord of my life day after day for next to nothing.
Judas Iscariot's real problem was not that he betrayed the Lord. The impetuous Simon Peter was guilty of a similar offense when he denied Jesus three times. And the others of the Twelve, who were nowhere to be found on Good Friday, proved themselves to be not much better. Judas' problem was that unlike the others he could not bring himself to ask for and accept forgiveness.
That is one of the most important lessons of the events of Holy Week. Betrayal is not the last word; forgiveness is. Jesus was willing to forgive everyone - those who judged and condemned him, those who carried out his execution, the bystanders who looked on in complicity, the disciples who fled, boastful, pathetic Peter, even Judas Iscariot. And even you and me. God loves us that much.
It is time to stop looking for opportunities to betray him.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. I am sorry with all my heart for all the times I have offended you by rejecting your love. Change my heart that I may be devoted to you and follow you unreservedly all the days of my life.
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Holy Thursday
Holy Week
Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must wash one another's feet. I have set an example for you; as I have done, so you must do.John 13: 12-15
This day is sometimes called Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word for command (mandatum); it refers to the new commandment given by Jesus at the Last Supper "...to love one another as I have loved you." This commandment is demonstrated in the reading from the Gospel of John used in the liturgy for Holy Thursday. The Gospel reading recounts how Jesus at the Last Supper put aside his garment and washed the feet of the Twelve, and then commanded them to do likewise.
Many churches today include in the liturgy of Holy Thursday a ceremonial washing of the feet of twelve members of the congregation as a reenactment of Jesus' gesture at the Last Supper. But Jesus intended the washing of the feet to be more than just a gesture. He instructed the Twelve that he was doing it to set an example of how they must conduct themselves as his followers. They were not to lord it over anyone; instead they were to be the servants of all.
This commandment of service applies to all the followers of Jesus in every age. The issue is sometimes raised today of who should be allowed to receive communion. To some the rules for receiving communion seem too strict. But if we were to take Jesus' mandatum seriously, we would have to say that the requirements are not nearly strict enough.
Jesus might say that the requirement for receiving communion is the rule of humility. To receive the Lord in communion we must see ourselves as we really are, lowly servants who are not even worthy to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters.
Of course, if this rule were strictly enforced, the communion lines would be very short.
O Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. Nourish me with the bread of life that I may grow in faith and follow your example in humility and service.
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Good Friday
Holy Week
Son though he was, he learned obedience through suffering, and when he was made perfect, be became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.Hebrews 5: 8-9
The death of Jesus on the cross was the inevitable outcome of the self-emptying by which he became a man in the first place. It was inevitable not because God willed it, as though he somehow took satisfaction in seeing his Son suffer, but because of the highly predictable way that humans respond when confronted with uncompromising good. When it comes to doing good, human history is a legacy of shame.
God did not will that his Son suffer and die; he willed that he do good at all costs. It was not necessary that Jesus look for suffering; it would find him soon enough. He resolved only to be obedient to the will of the Father, to embody the Father's love, to act in every circumstance in imitation of the goodness and righteousness of God.
Such a life was intolerable to many of his contemporaries. And anyone who takes discipleship seriously and tries to imitate Jesus' obedience will find that it is still intolerable today. The consequences of obedience to the Father are inevitable. The world simply will not stand for such goodness.
Yet obedience to the will of God is the only way to eternal salvation. The consequences of doing good might be dire; but the consequences of doing anything else are far worse.
Lord Jesus Christ, take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding, and my will. All that I have and cherish you have given me. I surrender it all to be guided by your will. Your grace and your love are wealth enough for me. Give me these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more. (Prayer of St Ignatius Loyola)