Opening Prayer:
O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your love, and your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand, your purpose, your will through all things.
Psalm for the Week: Psalm 31
Scripture for the Day: Psalm 125
Reading for Reflection:
During
this week Judas and Peter present me with the choice between running away from
Jesus in despair or returning to him in hope.
Judas betrayed Jesus and hanged himself.
Peter denied Jesus and returned to him in tears.
Sometimes despair seems an attractive
choice, solving everything in the negative.
The voice of despair says, ”I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others
to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. I have tried for years. It didn’t work and it will never work. It is better that I get out of people’s way,
be forgotten, no longer around, dead.”
This strangely attractive voice takes all
uncertainties away and puts an end to the struggle. It speaks unambiguously for the darkness and
offers a clear-cut negative identity.
But Jesus came to open my ears to another
voice that says, “I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I
love what I have made. I love you with a
love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice, but
always again. You are my child. How could you ever doubt that I will embrace
you again, hold you against my breast, kiss you and let my hands run through
your hair? I am your God—the God of
mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and
care. Please do not say that I have
given up on you, that I cannot stand you anymore, that there is no way
back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all of your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful,
made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden
corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have
lost sight of, but which will become visible to you again in the light of my
mercy. Come, come, let me wipe away your
tears, and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, ‘I love you, I
love you, I love you.’”
This is the voice that Jesus wants us to
hear. It is the voice that calls us
always to return to the one who has created us in love and wants to re-create
us in mercy. Peter heard that voice and
trusted it. As he let that voice touch
his heart, tears came—tears of sorrow and tears of joy, tears of remorse and
tears of peace, tears of repentance and tears of gratitude.
It is not easy to let the voice of God’s
mercy speak to us because it is a voice asking for an always open relationship,
one in which sins are acknowledged, forgiveness received, and love
renewed. It does not offer us a
solution, but a friendship. It does not
take away our problems, but promises not to avoid them. It does not tell us where it all will end,
but assures us that we will never be alone.
A true relationship is hard work because loving is hard work, with many
tears and many smiles. But it is God’s
work and worth every part of it.
O Lord, my Lord, help me to listen to your
voice and choose your mercy. (The Road to Daybreak by Henri J. M.
Nouwen)Reflection and Listening: silent and written
Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Song for the Week: Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know “Thus saith the Lord!”
Chorus:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!
O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
Just in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!
Yes ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.
I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
Closing Prayer:
But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands. Amen. (Psalm 31:14-15)
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