longing, saturday

Saturday, September 27

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

         

Opening Prayer: O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hebrews 11:1-16

Reading for Reflection:

The whole of the good Christian life is a holy longing.  What you desire ardently, as yet you do not see…By withholding of the vision, God extends longing; through longing he extends the soul, by extending he makes room in it.  Let us long because we are to be filled…that is our life, to be exercised by longing.       

                                                                                ~St. Augustine

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                  

Closing Prayer: Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. (The Confessions of St. Augustine)