naked, thursday

Thursday, October 9

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

          

Opening Prayer: O Lord my God, how I long to recapture the purity and joy of the Garden—when I was able to stand before you (and others) naked and unashamed.  That, indeed, is what I was made for.  But this side of heaven that is not my reality.  My reality is filled with fear and shame; hiding and covering—terrified that I will be exposed, found out, not enough.  How I genuinely long for true communion with you; total vulnerability; deep trust—to be fully known and fully loved.  Have mercy on me!  Amen.

          

Scripture Reading for the Day: Ezekiel 16

Readings for Reflection:

 

If there are a few contemplatives in our parishes it is because most are content to remain “conventional Christians.”  Conventional Christians secretly assure themselves that if they attend to the prescribed externals, go regularly to church, and don’t go off the deep end, they are pleasing to God (although in fact they are pleasing mostly to themselves).  Nonetheless, we are called to “go off the deep end” by abandoning ourselves to the Lord’s care and to risk everything by letting go of everything.  We are invited (though never demanded) to hang over an interior abyss in dark trusting faith where our security blanket of control is stripped away and we stand naked and defenseless before our Creator. (Why Not Be a Mystic? By Frank X. Tuoti)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                  
Closing Prayer: Clother of Naked Souls, Adam and Eve fled naked through the garden, found secret crannies in the shadows and, with fingers still stained with the forbidden, wove together clothes to try and hide from you, the one who sees all.  I see myself there, hiding from you, trying to sew together some new way of life, trying to escape the memory of the fruit that tasted so good only a moment ago.  Seek me in my hiddenness, find me once again.  Your grace will clothe even the deepest kinds of fruit-inflicted shame. (A Heart Exposed by Steven James)