Devotional prayer, I think, has become less popular today. We lean toward Scripture, meditation, contemplation…
But I have always found devotional prayer helpful and calming in times of stress and crisis.
You might want to return to a favorite prayer of your youth —
Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus
Angel of God, My Guardian Dear
The Rosary, said slowly, letting the beads teach your fingers patience and trust
And, of course on his feast, the comforting Litany of St. Joseph.
Don’t worry about saying the whole thing. Pray slowly. Let the depth of the phrase sink into your anxieties. When you find a phrase that embraces you, rest in it. Talk to dear St. Jospeh about your “heart condition”.
Litany of St. Joseph
Lord, have mercy Christ, have mercy Lord, have mercy God our Father in heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Noble son of the House of David Light of patriarchs Husband of the Mother of God Guardian of the Virgin Foster father of the Son of God Faithful guardian of Christ Head of the holy family Joseph, chaste and just Joseph, prudent and brave Joseph, obedient and loyal Pattern of patience Lover of poverty Model of workers Example to parents Guardian of virgins Pillar of family life Comfort of the troubled Hope of the sick Patron of the dying Terror of evil spirits Protector of the Church
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Let us pray. God, in your infinite wisdom and love you chose Joseph to be the husband of Mary, the mother of your Son. May we have the help of his prayers in heaven and enjoy his protection on earth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Today, in Mercy, we celebrate our beloved Saint Joseph.
St. Joseph and the Christ Child by Sebastian Martinez
Our first reading describes the line of descent from David down through the ages to Joseph of the House of David.
God promises David:
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
Joseph is the realization of that House. He was the one who ultimately gave shelter, both literally and physically, to the Promised One.
Beloved Joseph, provider of safe and sacred shelter, opens his arms to our fearful and pleading prayers. Often in my life when I had a particularly difficult need, I have prayed the Litany of St. Joseph. Just a few of its beautiful phrases may bring you confidence and peace.
Praying with today’s Gospel, let’s imagine ourselves being invited by Joseph, Mary and Jesus to go down with them to our own “Nazareth” — to find the voice of God in the sacred protection of our homes and hearts.
Jesus went down with Mary and Joseph and came to Nazareth, and he obediently listened to them.
Poetry: The Temptation Of St. Joseph by W. H. Auden
From For the Time Being
I
JOSEPH My shoes were shined, my pants were cleaned and pressed, And I was hurrying to meet My own true Love: But a great crowd grew and grew Till I could not push my way through, Because A star had fallen down the street; When they saw who I was, The police tried to do their best.
CHORUS [off] Joseph, you have heard What Mary says occurred; Yes, it may be so. Is it likely? No.
JOSEPH The bar was gay, the lighting well-designed, And I was sitting down to wait My own true Love: A voice I’d heard before, I think, Cried: “This is on the House. I drink To him Who does not know it is too late;” When I asked for the time, Everyone was very kind.
CHORUS [off] Mary may be pure, But, Joseph, are you sure? How is one to tell? Suppose, for instance. . . Well. . .
JOSEPH Through cracks, up ladders, into waters deep, I squeezed, I climbed, I swam to save My own true Love: Under a dead apple tree I saw an ass; when it saw me It brayed; A hermit sat in the mouth of a cave: When I asked him the way, He pretended to be asleep.
CHORUS [off] Maybe, maybe not. But, Joseph, you know what Your world, of course, will say About you anyway.
JOSEPH Where are you, Father, where? Caught in the jealous trap Of an empty house I hear As I sit alone in the dark Everything, everything, The drip of the bathroom tap, The creak of the sofa spring, The wind in the air-shaft, all Making the same remark Stupidly, stupidly, Over and over again. Father, what have I done? Answer me. Father, how Can I answer the tactless wall Or the pompous furniture now? Answer them. . .
GABRIEL No, you must.
JOSEPH How then am I to know, Father, that you are just? Give me one reason.
GABRIEL No.
JOSEPH All I ask is one Important and elegant proof That what my Love had done Was really at your will And that your will is Love.
GABRIEL No, you must believe; Be silent, and sit still.
Music: I absolutely love this video of these dear Sisters of St. Joseph in Rochester singing “Hail Holy Joseph, Hail”. Having been taught by the sisters of St. Joseph for twelve years, I know the hymn very well. Looking at these Sisters, we can just imagine the long legacy of their generous ministries under the guidance of Joseph, their beloved patron. May God bless all our Sisters of St. Joseph on their Feastday! (Lyrics below as well as the Litany of St. Joseph in a second post)
Hail, holy Joseph, Hail by Father Frederick Faber
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Chaste spouse of Mary, hall! Pure as the lily flower In Eden’s peaceful vale.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Prince of the house of God! May His best graces be By thy sweet hands bestow’d.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Belov’d of angels, hail! Cheer thou the hearts that faint, And guide the steps that fail.
Hail, holy Joseph, hail! God’s choice wert thou alone; To thee the Word made flesh Was subject as a Son. O Christ’s dear Mother, bless; And bless, ye Saints on high, All meek and simple souls That to Saint Joseph cry.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, there is a great sadness in our readings.
The poignant opening line from Genesis immediately strikes us:
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age. Genesis 37:3
We picture young Joseph in his beautiful rainbow coat and, under an olive tree’s shade, old Jacob(Israel) proudly, tenderly, watching him play.
As the story ensues to reveal the later betrayal of Joseph’s jealous brothers, we are left astounded. Such treachery, especially among brothers, sickens the heart.
Our Gospel picks up the sad theme because Joseph and his brothers are archetypes of Christ’s story with humankind.
The Wicked Husbandman by John Everett Millais shows the owner’s murdered son
Jesus tells a parable in which he is actually the unnamed main character. He is the Son sent by a loving Father. He is the one rejected, beaten and killed by the treacherous tenants of his Father’s garden.
We know from our familiarity with Scripture that both these stories ultimately come to glorious conclusions. But today’s readings do not take us there. They leave us standing, mouths dropped open, at the dense meanness of the human heart, at the soul’s imperviousness to grace, at the profound sadness Jesus felt at this point in his ministry.
In our prayer today, let’s just be with Jesus, sharing his sadness for the meanness still poisoning our world. We might pray today for Jesus suffering in the Ukrainian people and throughout the many war-infested parts of our world.
May our prayers comfort Jesus with our desire to be open to God’s Grace and Mercy. May they lead us to actions of peace and justice on behalf of our suffering sisters and brother.
Poetry: Despised and Rejected – Christina Rossetti
My sun has set, I dwell In darkness as a dead man out of sight; And none remains, not one, that I should tell To him mine evil plight This bitter night. I will make fast my door That hollow friends may trouble me no more.
“Friend, open to Me.”–Who is this that calls? Nay, I am deaf as are my walls: Cease crying, for I will not hear Thy cry of hope or fear. Others were dear, Others forsook me: what art thou indeed That I should heed Thy lamentable need? Hungry should feed, Or stranger lodge thee here?
“Friend, My Feet bleed. Open thy door to Me and comfort Me.” I will not open, trouble me no more. Go on thy way footsore, I will not rise and open unto thee.
“Then is it nothing to thee? Open, see Who stands to plead with thee. Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou One day entreat My Face And howl for grace, And I be deaf as thou art now. Open to Me.”
Then I cried out upon him: Cease, Leave me in peace: Fear not that I should crave Aught thou mayst have. Leave me in peace, yea trouble me no more, Lest I arise and chase thee from my door. What, shall I not be let Alone, that thou dost vex me yet?
But all night long that voice spake urgently: “Open to Me.” Still harping in mine ears: “Rise, let Me in.” Pleading with tears: “Open to Me that I may come to thee.” While the dew dropped, while the dark hours were cold: “My Feet bleed, see My Face, See My Hands bleed that bring thee grace, My Heart doth bleed for thee, Open to Me.”
So till the break of day: Then died away That voice, in silence as of sorrow; Then footsteps echoing like a sigh Passed me by, Lingering footsteps slow to pass. On the morrow I saw upon the grass Each footprint marked in blood, and on my door The mark of blood forevermore.
Music: Handel: Messiah – He was despised and rejected – sung by Jakub Józef Orliński
“He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53, v.3) “He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: he hid not his face from shame and spitting.” (Isaiah 50, v.6)
March 17, 2022 Thursday of the Second Week of Lent St. Patrick’s Day
Sláinte means “health” in Irish and Scottish Gaelic
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jeremiah challenges us with this powerful question:
More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 7:9
Fortunately, Jeremiah also provides an answer to the question:
I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to their ways, according to the merit of their deeds.
Jeremiah 17:10
If we invite God into our hearts, we will be guided to this blessing:
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. That person is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.
Jeremiah 17: 7-8
Poetry: Our dear St. Patrick, on this glorious feast, gives us the perfect prayer to strengthen and direct our hearts:
I arise today Through the strength of heaven; Light of the sun, Splendor of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of the wind, Depth of the sea, Stability of the earth, Firmness of the rock.
I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me; God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s hosts to save me Afar and anear, Alone or in a mulitude.
Christ shield me today
Against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through the mighty strength
Of the Lord of creation
Music: The Breastplate of St. Patrick – Sara Hart
And an added prayer for the ancestral homeland and the ancestors who have blessed us with its spirit …
There were people of all ages Gathered ’round the gable wall Poor and humble men and women, Little children that you called We are gathered here before you And our hearts are just the same Filled with joy at such a vision As we praise your name
Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland All my cares and troubles cease As I kneel with love before you Lady of Knock, our Queen of Peace
Though your message was unspoken Still the truth in silence lies As we gaze upon your vision, And the truth I try to find Here I stand with John the teacher, And with Joseph at your side And I see the Lamb of God On the Altar glorified
Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland All my cares and troubles cease As we kneel with love before you Lady of Knock, our Queen of Peace
And the Lamb will conquer And the woman clothed in the sun Will shine Her light on everyone Yes, The Lamb will conquer And the woman clothed in the sun Will shine Her light on everyone
Golden Rose, Queen of Ireland All my cares and troubles cease As I kneel with love before you Lady of Knock, my Queen of Peace Lady of Knock, my queen of peace
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we learn a lesson in humble leadership, thanks once again to “Mrs. Zebedee”.
Our Gospel recounts the story of the mother of James and John interceding for her sons with Jesus. Like many overprotective mothers, she intervenes even into their adult lives. She wants to make sure they get the best deal for their investment with Jesus.
Listen, I understand and love her! I would be the same way with my kids if I had any. I often say it’s best I had none because “Overprotective Me” would have had to shadow them to school, dances, playgrounds etc. until they were about 35 years old!
But the point of this Gospel story isn’t Mrs. Zebedee’s overprotectiveness. It has little to do with Mrs. Zebedee at all.
The point is that “Mrs. Zebedee” (like many of us) has missed the whole POINT. The Gospel story is about US and the integrity of our choice to live a life in the pattern of Jesus.
Christ’s disciples have decided to follow a man who says things like this:
The last shall be first and the first, last.
Unless you lay down your life, you cannot follow me.
Whoever takes the lowly position of a child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The seats at Christ’s right and left, which Mrs. Zebedee requests for her sons, will bring them rewards only through humility and sacrificial service.
Here’s the way a 14th century artist imagined the Zebedee family. (Dad looks happy!)
Mary Salome and Zebedee with their Sons James the Greater and John the Evangelist (c.1511) by Hans von Kulmbach, Saint Louis Art Museum
Jesus is gentle with “Mrs. Zebedee”. He understands how hard it is for any of us to comprehend the hidden glory of a deeply Christian life. We are surrounded by a world that screams the opposite to us:
Me first!
Stand your ground!
Good guys finish last!
So Jesus turns to James and John (and to us). One can imagine the bemused look on Christ’s face. He knows the hearts of his disciples. He knows they have already given themselves to him. So he asks them for a confession of faith, “Can you drink the cup that I will drink?”
The meeting of Christ with Zebedee’s wife and sons by Paolo Veronese
Their humble, faith-filled answer no doubt stuns their mother. She is left in wonder at the holy men her sons have become. Perhaps it is the beginning of her own deep conversion to Christ.
As we pray with this passage, where do we find ourselves in this scene? How immediate, sincere, and complete is our response to Jesus’ question: “Can you drink the cup….?”
Prose: by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Can You Drink the Cup?
Drinking the cup that Jesus drank is living a life in and with the spirit of Jesus, which is the spirit of unconditional love. The intimacy between Jesus and Abba, his Father, is an intimacy of complete trust, in which there are no power games, no mutually agreed upon promises, no advance guarantees. It is only love —pure, unrestrained, and unlimited love. Completely open, completely free. That intimacy gave Jesus the strength to drink his cup. That same intimacy Jesus wants to give us so that we can drink ours.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, in Isaiah’s prophecy, God addresses some of the most famous sinners in the Bible — the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Divine manner of that address is both gentle and direct…
Come now … let us set things right!
Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool. If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!
Isaiah 1:18-20
Setting things right! Aren’t there times in our lives when we long for that? Not in the sense of vengeance or some vigilante justice, but rather in the sense of balance, equity, peace, and understanding in our lives.
Some things go wrong in our lives – that’s just the way it is. And sometimes we struggle endlessly and futilely to realign them.
Even in the most tranquil and “together” lives, there are places of irresolution – little knots in our life story of “why” and “why not”; of “if” and “if only”.
These may be places where we can’t really “forget” and so have not really forgiven. They may be nagging questions left unanswered because we hadn’t the courage to ask. They may be reasons we wanted to explain but no one wanted to listen. They may be excuses or pretenses we have made for so long that we have begun to believe them ourselves.
In almost all such instances, a scarlet concupiscence is at the root of our suffering or pain – sin, not only in the other, but in ourselves that longs to be made white as snow.
In many such cases, the time passes when we might reach out to the other for mutual healing. Death, distance, stubborn resistance and other walls may block us from worldly reconciliation.
But in God’s realm, healing is still possible, as is the power of our desire for the other to be healed with us.
in Isaiah’s beautiful passage, God invites us to full and eternal wholeness. That wholeness is achieved through our willingness to be open before God and to practice obedient listening in our prayer.
If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land.
Isaiah 1:19
Let’s listen to and trust the awesome invitation in Isaiah: “Come now, let us set things right” … come to Me where I will allow you to forgive yourself as I forgive you. Let us begin to untie any grace-resistant knot in your heart. Untied, it also frees the other to seek their own healing.
Poetry: Forgiveness – George MacDonald
God gives his child upon his slate a sum – To find eternity in hours and years; With both sides covered, back the child doth come, His dim eyes swollen with shed and unshed tears; God smiles, wipes clean the upper side and nether, And says, ‘Now, dear, we’ll do the sum together!’
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our reading from Daniel gives us one of the Great Prayers of the Old Testament (according to Walter Brueggemann’s like-named book.)
The Book of Daniel and chapter nine in particular, have been the subjects of extensive biblical exegesis. Chapter nine in considered one of the Messianic Prophecies, Old Testament markers pointing to Christ. So there is much we could study about today’s first reading.
But how might we pray with it – for our times and our lives?
Naming the sins of all the People, Daniel’s great prayer is a plea for mercy:
Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments! … … yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!
Three themes, so strikingly germane to Lent, arise from Daniel’s prayer:
Repentance Forgiveness Transformation
Our Responsorial Psalm picks up this plea to Mercy for mercy:
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to us, for we are brought very low. R. Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins. Help us, O God our savior, because of the glory of your name; Deliver us and pardon our sins for your name’s sake.
The questions for each of us as we pray today —
Is there someplace in my life longing for such mercy and healing? Where can my spirit grow from repentance, forgiveness, and transformation?
In our Gospel Jesus tells us how to open our hearts to this merciful healing.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.
There it is in black and white. Whether or not the advice changes my heart is up to me!
Poetry: To Live in the Mercy of God – Denise Levertov
To lie back under the tallest oldest trees. How far the stems rise, rise before ribs of shelter open!
To live in the mercy of God. The complete sentence too adequate, has no give.
Awe, not comfort. Stone, elbows of stony wood beneath lenient moss bed.
And awe suddenly passing beyond itself. Becomes a form of comfort. Becomes the steady air you glide on, arms stretched like the wings of flying foxes. To hear the multiple silence of trees, the rainy forest depths of their listening.
To float, upheld, as salt water would hold you, once you dared.
.To live in the mercy of God. To feel vibrate the enraptured
waterfall flinging itself unabating down and down to clenched fists of rock. Swiftness of plunge, hour after year after century, O or Ah uninterrupted, voice many-stranded. To breathe spray. The smoke of it. Arcs of steelwhite foam, glissades of fugitive jade barely perceptible. Such passion— rage or joy? Thus, not mild, not temperate, God’s love for the world. Vast flood of mercy flung on resistance.
Music: Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy) Beethoven- Missa Solemnis
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings are about types of citizenship, that condition of knowing we are fully and irrevocably home.
In Genesis, Abraham is given a land for himself and his descendants as a sign of God’s abiding Presence.
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.”
Genesis 15:5
In Philippians, Paul tells us that, truly, “our citizenship is in heaven”.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20
In Luke, the transfigured Jesus shows us what that heavenly reality will be like. It is a kind of glorious belonging that Peter wants to hold on to … to capture in a tent.
Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
Luke 9:28
But the Creator makes it clear this dwelling and citizenship exists only in the heart of Christ where we are called to listen and live our lives.
While Peter was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
Luke 9:34-35
These readings confirm that, in God, we are a people not bound by borders, ethnicities, religious cult, or any other human categorization.
Every human being belongs to God and is called to live in the fullness of that Creation. This is our shared Divine citizenship demanding a reverent mutuality for one another’s lives.
Think about that in contrast to the incomprehensible outrage of Putin’s unprovoked war against the Ukrainian people. Think about it relative to the many armed conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin and South America.
Think of our Oneness in God compared to talk of border walls, ethnic and religious bans, white supremacy, anti-semitism, islamophobia and all the other manufactured ways we try to isolate people from this Divine citizenship which makes us brothers and sisters in God.
On this Sunday when our readings remind us of where and to whom each of our hearts belongs, let us pray for our world – for those suffering from war and isolation, and for the unfortunate lost souls executing that suffering. In differing ways, each of them, and we, need continuing redemption.
Poetry: The Man He Killed – Thomas Hardy
Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin!
But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because – Because he was my for, Just so: my foe of course he was; That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps, Off-hand like – just as I – Was out of work — had sold his traps — No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You’d treat if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings could confuse us with their threads of legalistic logic. We see several examples of “if-then” admonitions that can make us picture God as an accountant measuring every choice we make.
If the wicked man turns, … then he shall surely live If the virtuous man turns, … then none of his good deeds shall be remembered. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities … then who can stand. If you go to the altar unreconciled … then leave and be reconciled
Sometimes, we can get obsessive about the “if-then” aspects of religion. And IF we do, THEN we probably miss the whole point. Because folded in today’s “if-then” seesaws is the truth of these passages: that the Lord does NOT sit miserly in Heaven to mark our iniquities.
God measures the righteousness of love.
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9: 23-24
Today’s Responsorial Psalm offers us a beautiful prayer for today as we pray in the embrace of God’s Lavish Mercy:
I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word. My soul waits for the LORD more than sentinels wait for the dawn. Let Israel wait for the LORD. For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption; And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
Psalm 130: 5-7
Let’s wait for the Lord today to see how God’s Grace invites us to the righteousness of Love.
Poetry: Measurement by Ella Hines Stratton
Great tasks are but seldom given out, Great deeds are but for the few, Yet the little acts, not talked about, May need a faith as true.
Some things are better for being small, For a breath who wants a cyclone? And the flower which would die in a water-fall Grows bright with a drop alone.
The small is not always a little thing— The stroke of a pen may move A crown from off the brow of a king, A government from its groove.
At times our measurement cannot be right, For, when tried by the Master’s test, So little a gift as a widow’s mite Out-balances all the rest.
And whether a thing be great or small As none of us may plan, It is safe to do, what we do at all, The very best that we can.
Music: Everlasting Love – Mark Hendrickson & Family (Lyrics below)
Today, in Mercy, our readings could be so reassuring about the power of our prayer, except …..
How often have you prayed for something that you didn’t get?
In our reading from the Book of Esther, Esther certainly puts everything she has into her prayer for deliverance:
Queen Esther – By Jean-François Portaels
She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand.
The passage, in isolation from the rest of the Book, might lead us to conclude that Esther’s prayer is simply about her asking for, and receiving, what she wants from God. It’s about much more.
Esther, like Christ, is in a position to save her people. She must risk her life to do so. She is praying for the courage to do God’s will, to look past her own comfort and become an agent of grace in her circumstances.
Now that’s some kind of prayer!
Prayer can be like looking in a mirror. All we see reflected back is our own need and desire. We don’t pray honestly and openly enough to let God open a door in the mirror – a door into God’s own will and hope for us.
That’s the door Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel.
What we ASK is not just for something we want, but rather to know God’s heart.
What we SEEK is not our own satisfaction, but the grace to embrace God’s mysterious energy in our lives no matter how it comes to us.
What we KNOCK for and desire to be opened to us is deeper love and fuller relationship with our loving God.
Sometimes, the problem with prayer is that we think it’s like asking our rich uncle for a permanent loan. It’s only when we comprehend that prayer is a relationship that the RECEIVE, FIND, and OPENED parts become real for us.
I walk the earth, soft from yesterday’s long rain. Mists ascend like incense under my indulgent footfalls. Birdsongs thin themselves between the early light; chanting, contrapuntal, in the well-laved trees.
Nothing grey is left now in the wide sky. Rinsed in light it spreads to dry in sere, blue wind.
Momentarily, earth is wholly God’s; deep, true colors fall to it, rich, unshadowed. Your Word, Creator, WaterGod, has penetrated. It returns to You in crystal images from a finally uncomplicated world.
As if within a lucent globe I hold You still, in perfect, silent love, clear, inexplicable like sunlit rain.
Music: two offerings today. One is old-time revival. The other is classic beauty. Enjoy.
Prayer Is the Key to Heaven – Alan Brewster
Music: Overture from Esther – George Frideric Handel
Lavish Mercy 