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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

commitment, wednesday

Wednesday, November 25

Opening Prayer: Lord, take my lips and speak through them; take my mind, and think through it; take my heart, and set it on fire.  Amen. (Little Book of Prayers by W. H. Aitken)

Scripture: Psalm 31:1-5

Journal: What do the words into your hands I commit my spirit mean to you today?  What does it mean to commit your spirit to God?  How do you need God to be your rock, refuge and fortress right now?

Reflection:
 
     This abandonment is the very heart and essence of Christian prayer, and it has nothing in common with strategy and second-guessing.  It is the pray-to-win mentality turned inside out, and yet it is not a pray-to-lose mentality.  It is prayer that has moved beyond intending, directing, steering, second-guessing God.  It is the dancer moving completely in the rhythm of the partner, prayer that is utterly freeing because it is completely at one.  Utterly beyond asking, beyond the anger that rattles heaven’s gate.  Prayer that does not plead, wants nothing for itself but what God wants, it is the will-not-to-will, rooted in grace, that makes it possible to be abandoned, free, and then (by some further miracle) able to act with a semblance of coherence and freedom even when completely surrendered to and possessed by the loving will of God.
     And it is this abandonment that is meant when we are told to drop our nets and follow him; to pause not to bury our dead fathers or tell our wives we will be traveling for a while; it is in this abandonment that we sell all. (Clinging—The Experience of Prayer by Emilie Griffin)

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord, you know me better than I know myself.  Your Spirit pervades every moment of my life.  Thank you for the grace and love you shower on me.  Thank you for your constant, gentle invitation to let you into my life.  Forgive me for the times I have refused that invitation, and closed myself off from you.  Help me in the day to come, to recognize your presence in my life, to open myself to you, to let you work in me, to your greater glory. Amen. (The Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius)

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