Opening Prayer:
You, O Christ, are my wealth. All those things I thought I couldn't live without "dissolve" in a glance from you. They are nothing when considered in the larger light of your intimate presence. How difficult it has been to come to this moment! The moment of letting go! I. who have learned so well to hoard, grasp, clutch, and control! Now I want only to be grasped by you. All my possessions are empty when they become obstacles to my union with you. O Glance of God, prepare my heart for the Great Surrender. Enable me to surrender my ego self so that I may put on Christ. Then I will begin enjoying heaven on earth. Amen. (Abide by Macrina Wiederkehr)
Psalm for the Week: Psalm 49
Scripture for the Day: Galatians 2:19-21
Reading for Reflection:
Each time you break open the Word of God you are
invited to die a little. It is a dying
that is full of living, a death that is life-giving. Unlock the door of your heart. Open the eyes of your soul. Allow yourself to be vulnerable to the hallowed
words. These words will wound you even as they heal you. They will challenge you in the same moment
they bless you. They summon you to move
into the growing places. They call you to trust an invisible Source of
Life. They draw you, like a magnet, to
the Divine.
Don’t be afraid of your death. When that time comes, “I will draw my breath
and your soul will come to me like a needle to a magnet.” In these revealing mystical words, God
speaks directly to the heart of Mechtild of Magdenburg. These words re also for you—whoever you may
be—for the great death at the end of our lives is not the only death. There are little deaths along the way. Each death has the potential of drawing you
into the Holy One. Your breath is not
your own; it has been borrowed from God.
Each breath draws you into greater intimacy with the Divine.
If God
has spoken to Mechtild in such beautiful, mystical language, rest assured this
message is also for you. You too have
the heart and soul of a mystic. On your pilgrim
path through the hours of the day you will encounter many life-giving
deaths. Each surrender is a little
dying. Every act of love is full of life
and death. Each covenant promise
requires a bittersweet yielding of the will.
Every leaning toward God is a little conversion in which you are drawn,
like a magnet, to the Divine.
You
are being drawn! Between your first
breath and your last breath the poem of your life unfolds. Every step is a dance step. The dance of birth! The dance of life! The dance of death! Surrender your need for certainty as you fall
into your soul space. You will not know
whether you have found life or death as you gaze into the face of God. (Abide
by Macrina Wiederkehr)Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself
Song for the Week: Alas and Did My Savior Bleed
Alas and did my savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?
Was it for sins that I have done
He suffered on the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut His glory in
When Christ, the great Redeemer died
For man the creature's sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away
'Tis all that I can do.
Closing Prayer:
Dear God,
Please untie the knots that are in my mind my heart and my life. Remove the have nots, the can nots, and the do nots I have in my mind. Erase the will nots, may nots, the might nots that may find a home in my heart. Release me from the would nots could nots and should nots that obstruct my life. And most of all, remove from my mind my heart and my life, the am nots that I have allowed to hold me back especially the thought that I am not good enough. Amen. (Author unknown)
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