Thank you for this moment,
May it be sacred,
O God make it yours.
Thank you for this life,
May I be ready,
O God make it yours.
Thank you for this voice,
May it be prayer,
O God make it yours.
Have mercy, gentle God.
Let the waters of your grace
wash over me.
You see me for what I am;
Your justice reveals my inadequacies.
You call me to be centred in truth.
For this I need to learn wisdom.
Let me rise from the waters, newborn,
My heart filled with gladness.
Reshape my heart so that I, too,
May teach others your way.
Psalm 51, Patricia Stevenson, RSJ
Autumn: The Circle of Life: The heart’s journey through the seasons / Joyce Rupp & Macrina Wiederkehr
Lent is the Grace to Grieve / Joan Chittister from A Summons to Live Anew: Lent 2024
Prepared by Ronnie Parton, Waikanae Companions
In February, where we began to approach Lent, Clare brought us the Zaccheus story. Zaccheus who received Jesus’s gaze of love and turned his heart around to see the truth.
Central to two of the readings for Ash Wednesday the attitude of our hearts is questioned:
“Rend your hearts, not your garments”, “Let your hearts be broken not your garments torn” Joel 2 v13.
And again, in Psalm 51 v10 “Reshape your heart”.
To quietly break our hearts open to accept the Lord’s love, means letting go, grieving, dying, changing. We are each walking our own Lenten journey yet we are not alone, we are Cenacle family and our God walks with us. Joyce Rupp tells us that in Lent…” we need inspiration and courage knowing others are there with us…each of us hoping to grow spiritually and become more loving, just and whole”.
Some thoughts on reshaping our hearts.
We are encouraged, invited to let things move in our lives…
to listen for a call to inner growth, to let go of material possession, to reach out for invisible gifts.
There is life in the dying…moments of death are full of life…everything is dying to live…everything is moving, flowing on into something new.
The sacred practice of recycling…that which falls into the earth is never lost. The earth receives it and preserves it.
It becomes a nurturing source for new beginnings…this is the miracle of transformation to what can become most satisfying and fulfilling.
We must remember to say thank you for whatever comes as a gift… to be at peace with what cannot be changed…
to look beneath and see our basic goodness shining there.
There is a monastic tradition of a practice in preparation for Vespers. Standing together in silence before processing into chapel…bowing to each other – the Christ in each other.
Though we may be praying by ourselves, can we at the end of our prayer times, stand in silence to acknowledge the holiness of the moment and the holiness of each other.