Begin
Silence, Stillness, and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Silence, Stillness, and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture
Reading
“Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation
but rescue us from the evil one” Matthew 6:9-13
“Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need
and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation
but rescue us from the evil one” Matthew 6:9-13
Devotional
Fran Slaone-Pelletier writes this about how God trained Jesus to know that whatever God provides on any one day is enough.
Fran Slaone-Pelletier writes this about how God trained Jesus to know that whatever God provides on any one day is enough.
“I
have always found it both intriguing and frightening to read and recognize this
truth: Jesus was led, driven, into the desert by the Spirit of God. Jesus of
Nazareth, the God-man, was led, driven, by God, not by human ideas, goals or
mission. The desert was to be the first place in which he would learn the power
of prayer, the driving force of prayerfulness.
Why
was it necessary for Jesus to be led into such a desolate place? Why couldn’t
he just plunge right into his ministry, his mission? Could it be that he needed
to experience the challenge of dryness and emptiness as prelude to the
fulfillment God promises? Could it be that he had to hone his awareness of needs
and wants before he could challenge his disciples to be similarly aware?
Jesus
would soon extend a two-word invitation: “Follow me.” Could it be that he
would only understand the meaning of those words by allowing himself to be led
into an encounter with aridity, with radical dryness, to know the power of
powerlessness and extend the potency to his followers? Could it be that we need
the same experience today?
Jesus,
like all of us, had to learn what it means to be a “pray-er” — one whose
very being is always in communion with God and thus in touch with the true self,
to use Thomas Merton’s phraseology .Perhaps, he, too, had to move from saying
prayers and singing psalms to actually praying them Perhaps the desert is the
only place where this can happen.
The
words can fall easily from my lips and wind up on paper. The reality is another
story entirely. I remember my own serious desert time, a long five months as a
patient in one or another medical facility. Pain and the powerful medications I
took to survive were my demons in the desert time. They worked together to
deprive me of any religious feeling.
At
the time, I scarcely thought this was Spirit-led or even Spirit-fed. I knew one
thing well: This was not my choice! Yet, with reflective pondering, I now
realize it was indeed God’s spirit which brought me into and through a
profound spiritual dryness. I needed to be devoid of all but the present moment.
I needed to know what it is like to be without the ability to stand or sit on my
own. I needed to know the deep meaning of dependency. I needed to allow others
to be my hands and feet, ears and eyes, even my mind and memory. All was
necessary for me to go beyond empathy and sympathy and learn the meaning of
profound compassion, to be able to suffer with those who suffer. I would engage
with a truth I had previously only known intellectually. It is true; those who
lead must also follow.
Led
into the desert by God’s spirit, we follow a way of truth, justice, and mercy
— and learn how to lead others as we travel God’s Way together. It will call
us into a desert of “dark night” prayer, devoid of emotions. There will be
no feeling of joy or sense of consolation. It will be a prayer walk of faith
without sight, walking blindly in the dryness of total trust in a generous God,
not a capricious one. It may be a journey into the desert of disbelief, replete
with the anguished question, “How can this be?” as a signpost and plea for
illumination.
Along
the way, a certain clarity emerges. ‘How can this be? Why is this
happening?’ All is being done as a response to God’s proclamation: “You
are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” God’s love and
pleasure is to prepare us for ministry, for serving as God’s people and with
God’s people. We are being readied for an ongoing response to our baptismal
call, as Jesus was.
In
the desert we learn to be alone with the alone. We learn the difference between
solitude and loneliness, desire and longing, needs and wants. We learn to be
silent and know that God is truly Emmanuel, God-with-us. We are never left
bereft of God’s presence. God is always journeying with us, leading us over
the shifting sands, blurry horizons and unremitting pain — the necessary
suffering of our sojourn as God’s people.
In
the desert, the potency of prayerful repentance is revealed. In the desert, we
penetrate the barren wasteland of false religiosity and discern what is real,
what is fruitful. In the desert, we believe — and change our minds and hearts.
In the desert, we hear and heed the clarion call of good news. In the desert, we
are confronted with our devilish desires, our cravings for comfort and ease, our
crooked paths and hardened hearts, our closed minds and blocked ears. In the
desert dryness, a deep thirst for God is awakened. In the desert, we discover
angels of hope and trust who attend us against bedeviling, wild fears.
In
the desert, we recall the Hebrew shema, “Hear, O People, the Lord our God is
one . . . . impress these words on your hearts.” Hearing, we listen and
know, with renewed faith, that God is our God and we, alone and together, are
God’s people.
Lent
is a time to go into the desert — and find God.
Question
to Consider
When is the last time that you have experienced dryness of soul? What did it do to your relationship with God? How can you allow such times to do for you what they did for Jesus?
When is the last time that you have experienced dryness of soul? What did it do to your relationship with God? How can you allow such times to do for you what they did for Jesus?
Prayer
“Lord, Psalm 23:1 tells us that, “because You are our Shepherd we have everything we need”. Lord, as I pray, give me today my daily bread. Help me to know, to believe, to actually believe, that what I have at this moment is everything that I need in order to live a vibrant flourishing life in your good kingdom. In Christ’s Name, Amen”
“Lord, Psalm 23:1 tells us that, “because You are our Shepherd we have everything we need”. Lord, as I pray, give me today my daily bread. Help me to know, to believe, to actually believe, that what I have at this moment is everything that I need in order to live a vibrant flourishing life in your good kingdom. In Christ’s Name, Amen”
Conclude with
Silence
(2 minutes)
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