Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Ignatian Spirituality: Set the World Ablaze

http://predmore.blogspot.com

Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 14, 2014

Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

When we suffer, it is not easy to lift our chins high. It is less easy to do when we are told to look at the Cross of suffering, that ironically gives us new life. We want our pain to go away so we can return to our normal practices in life – back to our true selves. We grumble like the freed Israelites who have no food and water as they wander through a barren desert filled with seraph serpents that are sent as punishment for their bitter complaining. God wants them to suck it up and get on with life. The last thing anyone who has been bitten by a snake wants to do is to look at any image of a serpent. We fear them for good reason. We would rather turn away, but we must lift our eyes and fix it on the agent of suffering we most fear if we are to no longer suffer. What a strange faith we have.

Earlier this week I had a conversation with an elderly woman in a nursing home who struggles to find integrity in her life. She is bleeding emotionally because life did not turn our exactly as she dreamed and she suffers disappointments numerous times. She is unable to control events in life to her satisfaction, especially in bringing her family together harmoniously. Others are seldom right because she has all the answers. She is stymied that the world does not conform to her ideals and designs and she looks back at choices she made or did not make in her life and wonders, “How could I have changed things with my decisions to make life go my way?”

As she examines herself and sees her disappointments, she keeps her head down and sees only ‘what went wrong.’ She closes in upon herself and does not have the energy to raise her eyes. What she wants most is to be loved and she fails to see the love that is around her. Instead of celebrating that family and friends come to visit, she laments that her family does not visit often enough. Instead of being grateful for everyone’s good health, she focuses on behaviors that do not meet her satisfaction. In fact, few people live out their lives in the manner she envisions for them. She unknowingly prefers to enroll others into her unresolved drama, but her suffering cuts her off even from those she cherishes most dearly. She realizes she lacks control over others and she keeps her eyes down and fails to see the loving grace that surrounds her.

The very wrong path for me to take is to refute her points or try to correct her thinking or to argue with her. Undisciplined talking seldom resolves issues. Besides, that is not what she needs. She needs to feel Christ’s mercy expressed through the people around her. Our task as Christians is to help her raise her eyes to the cross of suffering and to the One who was raised up. Many resist because looking squarely at the cross is painful and requires courage and energy we do not think we have, but it is the only path to salvation and peace. The One who suffered for us still suffers for us and He wants to touch our hearts with merciful love. We become a different person when we let someone else’s compassion touch our wounds.

Imagine what it will be like when someone in great angst raises his eyes to notice the compassionate eyes of Jesus fixed upon him. It is a moment in which he becomes aware of the ‘other,’ who has radical concern for him. In my prayer, that is all I want to experience – Jesus looking at me while I contemplate his facial expression, hear his tone of voice, and notice the acceptance I feel in his eyes. And when I gaze upon him as I suffer, I lose sight of my own suffering and I perceive his. Our sufferings become our point of contact, and we communicate our solidarity with each other just by being in the presence of the one we love.

When we find ourselves with someone in deep pain, let us recognize that our greatest gift to that person is to be with her silently, by communicating with simple gestures that let her know she is not alone. For that person, we are the ones who are mediating Christ’s love. The next step is to eventually ask her, “What is it you need?” and we give great space and patience as she formulates her answer. In due time, we assist her in her prayer to speak directly to the person of Jesus, who will comfort and tend to her wounds. Christ’s tenderness will quiet her as he raises her to his heart and blesses her entire being and strokes those sorrows and pains as he soothes her worries. Then he will simply embrace her in silence.

Just as God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that we may have life, we must imitate God’s example in concrete ways. We must give Jesus Christ to those who are in pain because we so love the people in our lives that we want them to rest in the care of Jesus. We are all in pain. Let us lift up others so they can behold the broken, crucified, suffering One who was lifted up for us. Christ saves us from ourselves and he will gives us what we mostly deeply yearn for and need. He always delivers on his promise.

 Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading:

Monday: (2 Corinthians 11) You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, are doing more harm than good. Factions exist among you. When you eat the Lord’s Supper, you are to do it as a unified group, not with one group going hungry while another group gets drunk.

Tuesday: A body is one, though it is made of many parts. The Spirit baptized all into one Body. You are Christ’s Body now and God has given you distinct gifts. Strive early for the greatest spiritual gifts.

Wednesday: If I speak in human and angelic thoughts, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. Love never fails. Our love for the other person perfects them.

Thursday: I handed onto you what is of supreme importance: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Lastly, he appeared to me.

Friday: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep and our bodies and souls will be resurrected in Christ.

Saturday: The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The natural was first, then the spiritual. The first man was from earth, the second man from heaven. We have borne the image of the earthly one and we shall bear the image of the heavenly one.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Our Lady of Sorrows) Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When he saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.”

Tuesday: (Luke 7) Jesus journeyed to Nain and saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. When the Lord saw his mother, he was moved with pity and said, “Do not weep.” He touched the coffin and the dead man sat up and began to speak.

Wednesday: (Luke 7) Jesus noticed the fickle nature of the people. When John the Baptist visited they said, “He is possessed by a demon.” When Jesus came they said, “Look, he is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”

Thursday: At a dinner with a leading Pharisee, a sinful woman burst in to anoint the feet of Jesus with her tears. The host was stymied, but Jesus scolded him and exclaimed that she was the one who provided great hospitality. He forgave her sins and sent her on her way.

Friday: Jesus journeyed from town to town and proclaimed the Kingdom of heaven. With him were the Twelve plus some women who were cured of evil spirits and infirmities.

Saturday:  A large crowd gathered and he told them a parable of a sower and the seed. The seed is the word of God and it falls on particular soils. The seed that is set in fertile ground will grow a hundredfold in faith.

Saints of the Week

September 14: The Triumph of the Holy Cross remembers the finding of the true cross by the Emperor Constantine's mother, Helen in early 4th century. Two churches were dedicated in the name of the cross on this day in the 4th century. Therefore, the feast was applied to this day. In the 7th century, the feast was renamed, "The Triumph." The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 335 was also dedicated on this day.

September 15: Our Lady of Sorrows was once called the Seven Sorrows of Mary as introduced by the Servite Friars. After suffering during his captivity in France, Pius VII renamed the devotion that encapsulates: Simeon's prophecy, the flight into Egypt, searching for Jesus at age 12 in the Temple, the road to Calvary, the crucifixion, the deposition, and the entombment.

September 16: Cornelius, pope and martyr (d. 253) and Cyprian, bishop and martyr (200-258) both suffered in the Decian persecutions. Cornelius was being attacked by Novatian, but since Novatian's teachings were condemned, he received the support of the powerful bishop, Cyprian. Cyprian was a brilliant priest and bishop of Carthage who wrote on the unity of the church, the role of bishops, and the sacraments. Cyprian died under Valerius after supporting his church in exile by letters of encouragement.

September 17: Robert Bellarmine, S.J., bishop and doctor (1542-1621) became a Jesuit professor at the Louvain and then professor of Controversial theology at the Roman College. He wrote "Disputations on the controversies of the Christian faith against the Heretics of this age," which many Protestants appreciated because of its balanced reasoning. He revised the Vulgate bible, wrote catechisms, supervised the Roman College and the Vatican library, and was the pope's theologian.

September 19: Januarius, bishop and martyr (d. 305), was bishop of Benevento during his martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution. He was arrested when he tried to visit imprisoned Christians. Legend tell us that a vial that contains his blood has been kept in the Naples cathedral since the 15^th century liquefies three times a year.

September 20: Andrew Kim Taegon, priest, martyr, Paul Hasang, martyr, and companion martyrs (19th century), were Korean martyrs that began to flourish in the early 1800’s. The church leadership was almost entirely lay-run. In 1836, Parisian missionaries secretly entered the country and Christians began to encounter hostility and persecutions. Over 10,000 Christians were killed. Taegon was the first native-born priest while the rest were 101 lay Christians.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Sep 14, 1596. The death of Cardinal Francis Toledo, the first of the Society to be raised to the purple. He died at age 63, a cardinal for three years.

·      Sep 15, 1927. Thirty-seven Jesuits arrived in Hot Springs, North Carolina, to begin tertianship. The property was given to the Jesuits by the widow of the son of President Andrew Johnson.

·      Sep 16, 1883. The twenty-third General Congregation opened at Rome in the Palazzo Borromeo (via del Seminario). It elected Fr. Anthony Anderledy Vicar General with the right of succession.

·      Sep 17, 1621. The death of St Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church.

·      Sep 18, 1540. At Rome, Pedro Ribadeneira, aged fourteen, was admitted into the Society by St Ignatius (nine days before official papal confirmation of the Society).

·      Sep 19, 1715. At Quebec, the death of Fr. Louis Andre, who for 45 years labored in the missions of Canada amid incredible hardships, often living on acorns, a kind of moss, and the rind of fruits.

·      Sep 20, 1990. The first-ever Congregation of Provincials met at Loyola, Spain, on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the approval of the Society and 500th anniversary of the birth of St Ignatius.

Spirituality: "The Still Point: Reflections on Zen and Christian Mysticism" by William Johnston

That detachment - which at first sight seems a cold and inhuman virtue - is in fact of primary importance for normal human development, is an ordinary finding of modern psychology. Erich Fromm tells us that detachment is something so vitally linked to human growth that it must begin at the moment of birth and proceed over one's whole life - which, when all goes well, is nothing more than growth through a series of crises. "The aim of life," he writes, "is to be fully born"; and he goes on to say that some people "cannot cut the umbilical cord completely, as it were; they remain symbiotically attached to mother, father, family, race, state, status, money, gods, etc.; they never emerge fully as themselves and thus they never become fully born. Here from a psychologist is a program of detachment as ruthless as that of John of the Cross; showing that the human perfection aimed at by the psychologist is not alien to the Christian perfection of the saints. Indeed, John of the Cross uses words reminiscent of those I have quoted from Fromm, for he complains that some people, retarded in their spiritual life "still think of God as little children and speak of God as little children, and feel and experience God as little children." In other words, he wants people to get rid of children's ideas of God and to grow up.

Poem: "The Visitation" by Joyce Kilmer

There is a wall of flesh before the eyes

Of John, who yet perceives and hails his King.

It is Our Lady’s painful bliss to bring

Before mankind the Glory of the skies.

Her cousin feels her womb’s sweet burden rise

And leap with joy, and she comes forth to sing.

With trembling mouth, her words of welcoming.

She knows her hidden God, and prophesies.

Saint John, pray for us, weary souls that tarry

Where life is withered by sin’s deadly breath.

Pray for us, whom the dogs of Satan harry,

Saint John, Saint Anne, and Saint Elizabeth,

And, Mother Mary, give us Christ to carry

Within our hearts, that we may conquer death.

Prayer: Augustine of Hippo

Eternal God, who are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you: grant us so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Poem: Behind the Door

We are called to minister.
What will we find behind the patient's door?
A human being with fear or apprehension?
One never knows exactly what we will find.
But what about us?
Are we open, warm, reassuring?
Are we able to calm the patient's turmoil?

Someone said, "When you go behind that door,
You are the God person."
"Dear God," we say, "make me an instrument of your love.
Help me to find words of meaning in this moment.
Teach me to listen with compassion.
Teach me to bring the patient closer to you,
if that is their desire."

Being called the "God person"
can be frightening: I am not worthy.
But you walked this earth like all of us.
You felt pain, you comforted the afflicted,
You healed the sick, but most of all,
You showed your love and forgiveness.
I shall not fear, you are with me.

I sit here this day on the windowsill
and get a new perspective
of how the patient sees a steady stream
of doctors, nurses, social workers,
of nutritionists, respiratory therapists, and...
Whew! It is all confusing and overwhelming.
But I will wait. I am not in a hurry.

I will wait, I will be with you.
I do not have an agenda with IV's,
or vital signs, or infusion therapy.
No, I am here to be present to
and with you on your journey.
Behind the door

Spirituality: Pope Francis on Bitterness

I would like to return to another sign, the sign of bitterness. Once a priest told me, here in Rome: “But, I see many times we are a Church of angry people, always angry with each other; we always have something to be angry about.” This leads to sadness and bitterness: there is no joy. When we find a priest in a diocese who lives with anger and tension, we think: but this man has vinegar for breakfast. Then, at lunch, pickled vegetables, and then in the evening some beautiful lemon juice. His life is not working, because it is the image of a Church of angry people. Instead, joy is a sign that things are going well. You can be angry: it is even healthy to get angry once. But the state of ire is not of the Lord and it leads to sadness and disunity. And in the end, you said “fidelity to God and man.” It 'the same as we said before. It is twofold faithfulness and twofold transcendence: to be faithful to God is to seek him, to open oneself up to Him in prayer, remembering that He is faithful one. He cannot deny Himself; he is always faithful. And then opening oneself to others; it is that empathy, that respect, that listening, and saying the right word with patience.

Spirituality: “Be Reconciled to God”: An Eagle Among Turkeys By Pope Francis

Some time ago I read a parable written by a monk which enlightened me greatly about the shriveling of one’s heart and how, at times, the world tends to press in upon ourselves. The parable goes like this: Some boys climbing a mountain found an eagle’s nest with an egg, and they brought it down with them. Later they wondered what they should do with the egg, and one of the boys suggested that they take it to his house, since he had a turkey hen that was sitting on some eggs to be hatched. So they added the egg to the ones the turkey was sitting on. The chicks were hatched, they all looked the same, and they started to grow. But the eagle chick acted differently from the rest. When the others walked along looking at the ground, he looked at the sky and felt something. But since he had no one to teach him how to fly, his life, which ought to have been spent flying high, was spent in the coop among the turkeys.

Together with this call to “be reconciled with God” and to “turn to God with all your heart,” we can also ask ourselves this question: Am I the turkey in the coop, or do I desire to fly? Am I attached to a flock which is going around blindly doing what everyone else does, seeking only its own satisfaction, concentrating on self, or am I looking upward to fly high? I assure you that if, during this Lent, you look higher, pray more, and fast from things which entertain you in a negative way and instead take advantage of that time to do a good work: visiting a sick person, keeping your children company, listening to your father, or your grandfather, who says the same thing over and over – if you do this during Lent, your heart will begin looking up and you will find a great surprise at the end.

May your shriveled heart, which is now practically a tomb, begin to feel that this tomb is the witness of someone who rose to save you, and you will encounter the living Jesus. So we begin Lent with a healthy optimism, with this great hope: reconcile yourself with God; return to the Lord with your whole heart; let your heart grow larger; look upward! He will do the rest. Have confidence.

Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Ignatian Spirituality: Set the World Ablaze

http://predmore.blogspot.com

Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

September 7, 2014

Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20

The one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Scripture this week focuses upon our conduct towards those around us, especially in times when we have been harmed by their actions. Love does no evil. Ezekiel says that you are responsible for the wicked person’s death if you do not dissuade him from doing evil. Jesus tells us to speak to your brother about his fault privately so you can settle the affair, respect his honor, and restore the sacred fraternal relationship. Scripture keeps returning to the point that we are to revere others’ freedom and well-being and we are to lovingly help them make choices that will help them do what is right in society. Even the rudest stranger, we are to treat with kindness, because we have a responsibility to that person who is poorly coping with issues that keep them from pursuing their happiness. Love builds up, encourages, and creates possibilities.

Each of us has had recent interactions when we kindly ask someone to consider our situations as their behavior negative intrudes upon us and we are treated with a defensive posture. Just a week ago, when two friends and I were watching an outdoor movie, a young woman stood up to stretch her legs and remained standing for a couple of minutes. I approached her to ask if she realized she was blocking our view and she exclaimed, “Why? Where are you sitting? I have a right to stand up.” I said silently, “Yes you do have a right, but I’m asking you to think about others,” but I paused, offered no argument, and then softly spoke, “We simply cannot see through you and we came to watch the movie.” She looked at me in anger until the man she was with said, “Honey, please sit down. You are blocking their view.” She complied.

Her response is fairly typical. I was the one who was infringing upon her freedom and she had the right to assert herself and defend her actions and I was the one who posed the threat because I called into question her choices. These days, we defend ourselves from those whose motives we do not know if we can trust and we therefore treat everyone as if they mean to threaten us. Just notice our driving patterns where we do not let anyone get an undeserved inch on the roadways. Some drivers must pass what they perceive as a slower driver so they can get ahead of us to slow down to the same speed we are driving. When we do not see the eyes or face of another person, that is, their humanity, we hold them as inhuman adversaries whose intentions are always suspect and we position ourselves defensively in case they are threats.

Everyone can appreciate the idealistic words and the harmonious sentiment of the readings, but no one gives you the tools to smoothly admonish your brother and sister in ways they can hear. When we try extra hard to be kind, we still cannot predict how somehow will respond to our gentle requests. To many, being kind means being soft; therefore they have the right to take advantage of someone who is weaker than I am. To this God responds, “Keep being kind. Keep smiling. Nothing is quite as powerful as true gentleness.”

The Gospel gives us a blueprint on the steps we need to take to resolve the dispute, but it does not tell us how to do it. The steps he mentions says that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of witnesses,’ but that is not enough because we have to begin with the assertions that, ‘No one will ever admit guilt or wrongness.’ Logic, facts, and argumentation never settle disputes. Only acknowledging the hurt we caused settles arguments. Even those found guilty of crimes by judge and jury profess their innocence.

The style of our approach dictates whether we will be successful. Love does no evil. Love does no harm. The law is fulfilled when we respond lovingly. I have to quickly think, “How can my words salvage this person’s honor? How can I not dismiss the person or say something that sounds as if I am judging?” We have to disarm the person and make them feel instantly comfortable. If I say, “I’m not sure I have the best words to convey this, but I’ll try,” then we at least set the person up to hear you. Never just jump in with statements that correct behaviors. Also, if someone’s words hurt us, tell them. Say, “Ouch.” Let the person know their words affect you greatly and you carry that hurt with you. Sane people do not want to hurt you. People really do not want to be the cause of unnecessary harm. One of our greatest gifts to develop is speaking from a loving place all day long – lovingly to ourselves, lovingly to strangers and neighbors, lovingly to adversaries. It often does not matter how they respond. What matters is that I continue to grow in love.

Love is powerful because it does no evil. Love does no harm, but it builds up and encourages. It creates new possibilities. Love fulfills the law because love is the basis of all law. The questions I ask myself each day are, “Am I growing in love? How can I grow more respectfully? Can the words I speak mirror the love I have in my heart for others?” I let God do the rest.

 Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading:

Monday: (Mary’s Birthday – Malachi) You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, to small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.

Tuesday: (1 Corinthians 6) Do not act unjustly as most in the world do. Instead, bring cases to the Holy Ones because you have been washed already, and you are justified in Christ.

Wednesday: Since the end of the world is imminent, respect your condition in life. Christ, when he comes again, will sort everything out in the last judgments.

Thursday: Love builds up, not knowledge, which inflates with pride. Otherwise, stay away from idol worship. If food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again so I may not cause my brother to sin.

Friday: (Naming of Mary) When I preach, I offer the Gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel.

Saturday: (Chrysostom) Avoid idolatry. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 1: Birth of Mary) The genealogy of Jesus through Joseph is outlined followed by how the birth of Jesus came about through Joseph’s decision to take Mary into his house rather than expose her to shame.

Tuesday: (Peter Claver) Jesus departed to the mountains to pray and after spending the night in prayer, he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose Twelve.

Wednesday: (Luke 6) Jesus raised his eyes toward his disciples and said, “Blessed are you…  Rejoice and leap fr you for your reward will be great in heaven.

Thursday: During the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus says, “Love your neighbor, Stop judging and you will not be judged; give good gifts and you will be rewarded.”

Friday: No disciples is superior to his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye and not see the plank in your own?

Saturday:  A good tree does not bear rotten fruit. If I am your Lord, you will do what I command because the one who loves me listens to my words and acts upon them.

Saints of the Week

September 7: Stephen Pongracz (priest), Melchior Grodziecki (priest), and Mark Krizevcanin (canon) of the Society of Jesus were martyred in 1619 when they would not deny their faith in Slovakia. They were chaplains to Hungarian Catholic troops, which raised the ire of Calvinists who opposed the Emperor. They were brutally murdered through a lengthy process that most Calvinists and Protestants opposed.

September 8: The Birth of Mary was originally (like all good feasts) celebrated first in the Eastern Church. The Roman church began its devotion in the fifth century. Her birth celebrates her role as the mother of Jesus. Some traditions have her born in Nazareth while others say she hails from outside of Jerusalem.

September 9: Peter Claver, S.J. (1580-1654) became a Jesuit in 1600 and was sent to the mission in Cartegena, Colombia, a center of slave trade. For forty years, Claver ministered to the newly arrived Africans by giving them food, water, and medical care. Unfortunately, he died ostracized by his Jesuit community because he insisted on continuing the unpopular act of treating the slaves humanely.

September 10: Francis Garate, S.J. (1857-1929) was a Basque who entered the Jesuits and became a doorkeeper at the Univeristy of Deusto in Bilbao. He modeled his ministry after Alphonsus Rodriguez and became known for his innate goodness, humility, and prayerfulness.

September 12: The Name of Mary was given to the child in the octave that follow her birth on September 8th. Mary (Miriam) was a popular name for a girl because it means "beloved."

September 13: John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor (347-407) was a gifted homilist and was called "Golden Mouth" because his words inspired many. He was raised in Antioch and joined a community of austere hermits but the lifestyle damaged his health. He became the archbishop of Constantinople where he introduced many conservative and unpopular reforms. He fled to escape an uprising from the people and on the way to exile he died.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Sep 7, 1773. King Louis XV wrote to Clement XIV, expressing his heartfelt joy at the suppression of the Society.

·      Sep 8, 1600. Fr. Matteo Ricci set out on his journey to Peking (Beijing). He experienced enormous difficulties in reaching the royal city, being stopped on his way by one of the powerful mandarins.

·      Sep 9, 1773. At Lisbon, Carvalho, acting in the king's name, ordered public prayers for the deliverance of the world from the "pestilence of Jesuitism."

·      Sep 10, 1622. The martyrdom at Nagaski, Japan, of Charles Spinola and his companions.

·      Sep 11, 1681. At Antwerp, the death of Fr. Geoffry Henschen (Henschenius). A man of extraordinary learning, he was Fr. Jan von Bolland's assistant in compiling the Acts of the Saints.

·      Sep 12, 1744. Benedict XIV's second Bull, Omnium Sollicitudinum, forbade the Chinese Rites. Persecution followed in China.

·      Sep 13, 1773. Frederick II of Prussia informed the pope that the Jesuits would not be suppressed in Prussia and invited Jesuits to come.

Prayer: Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

Lord Christ:

You who are the first and the last, the living and the dead, and risen again;
You who gather into your Exuberant unity every mode of existence;
It is you to whom by being cries out,
with a desire as vast as the universe:

In truth you are my 'Lord and my God.'

Prayer: Psalm 130 - In My Own Words

I’m groaning inside, Lord, as I wonder if you care for me. I’m pouring myself into my prayer that seems empty. Do you know I exist? Can you hear me? See me? Do you ever think of me? How I wish you, as great a God as you are, could do something, even the smallest gesture, to let me know you are concerned for me. Sometimes this seems one-sided, but for some reason I pray all the more.

But…

If you, the God I consider all-loving, judged us by our sins, no righteous individual could withstand your judgment as we consider the ways we have not even tried to love well, yet you always preach the mystery of forgiveness. Because you mercifully forgive, I honor you because I cannot comprehend why you are so good to us. Why is it that you love us so much?

I wait for you, Lord. My soul waits and I place my hope in you and your sparse, but profound words. My soul waits only for you because you are the only one who fulfills me. Still my soul, Lord, as I wait for you.

O people of goodwill, hope in the Lord, whose love is penetrating and brings us new life. The Lord saves us from ourselves.