broken, wednesday

Wednesday, April 2

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer: O persistent God, deliver me from assuming your mercy is gentle.  Pressure me that I may grow more human, not through the lessening of my struggles, but through the expansion of them…Deepen my hurt until I learn to share it and myself openly, and my needs honestly.  Sharpen my fears until I name them and release the power I have locked in them and they in me.  Accentuate my confusion until I shed those grandiose expectations that divert me from the small, glad gifts of the now and the here and the me.  Expose my shame where it shivers, crouched behind the curtains of propriety, until I can laugh at last through my common frailties and failures, laugh my way toward becoming whole. (Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)

Daily Scripture Reading: Luke 22:24-34

Reading for Reflection:

I am sure God wants us to be whole and healthy in every way possible, but love neither depends upon these things nor ends with them.  In fact, blessings sometimes come through brokenness that could never come in any other way.  In reflecting on my own life, I have to conclude that grace has come through me more powerfully sometimes when I have been very dysfunctional and maladjusted.  Love transcends all possible adjustments and continually invites us through and beyond them. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                         
Closing Prayer: Soul of Christ, sanctify me.  Body of Christ, save me.  Blood of Christ, intoxicate me.  Water from the side of Christ, wash me.  Passion of Christ, strengthen me.  O good Jesus, hear me.  Within your wounds hide me.  Do not allow me to be separated from you.  From the enemy defend me.  In the hour of my death call me, and bid me come to you, that with all your saints I may praise you forever and ever.  Amen. (The Anima Christi from The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien)