Intercessions ~ Fourth Sunday of Lent

Eranthis Hyemalis ~ Winter Aconite

Asking help for the Church where it is persecuted,/ poor or weak,/ and forgiveness where the Church is marred by sin./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for ourselves and our families: asking for strength in our weakness,/ in our distress,/ pain,/ failure,/ insecurity and bitterness./ We pray to the Lord. 

There are 168 million child laborers in the world today./ We pray for them,/ their families and those who exploit them./ We ask for a new global-heart/ which would see to the safety,/ education and well-being of children everywhere./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for calm minds/ not dominated by anger,/ hatred,/ negativity or worries,/ but the counting of blessings and trust in God's goodness./ We pay to the Lord.

In an unruly political time/ reflective of a deep national anger,/ we ask to be built up in the things of God's Trinitarian heart:/ unity,/ friendship and hospitality./ We pray to the Lord.

For the poor,/ the sick,/ the friendless and the needy./ And for all who seek to rescue,/ comfort and heal those who live in vulnerability and trouble./ We pray to the Lord.

For the dying to be comforted with a curiosity about heaven./ For the dead to realize the grace of God in its fullness./ And for the solace of mourners./ We pray to the Lord. 

Lenten Mercy ~ Meditation: What's Inside?

The Temptation of Saint Anthony the Abbot

On another occasion he called the people and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you and understand this: nothing that goes into a man from outside can defile him; no, it is the things that come out of him that defile a man."

When he had left the people and gone indoors his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, "Are you as dull as the rest? Do you not see that nothing that goes from outside into a man can defile him, because it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and so passes out into the drain?" Thus he declared all foods clean. He went on, "It is what comes out of a man that defiles him. For from inside, out of a man's heart, come evil thoughts, acts of fornication, of theft, murder, adultery, ruthless greed, and malice; fraud, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly; these evil things all come from inside, and they defile the man." Mark: 7:14-23

Here is poor Saint Antony the desert monk surrounded by a horde of bizarre, dangerous and un-nerving creatures.  Remember the title of the children's book: Where the Wild Things Are? Jesus goes to some lengths in his teaching to make it very clear that the wild things are inside us. Anthony's real contest is an interior one. 

In the ancient world, the heart was the place where thoughts originate. Our minds formulate, categorize and articulate those heart-thoughts. Perhaps today these mind/heart distinctions can be argued: What does what? Ultimately what matters is that we have an interior world and that its best parts needs cultivating and its worst bits need transforming and evolving. Some people go through life just arranging and re-arranging the outer stuff of life: like the outer rituals of religion, which Jesus dismisses in these verses. Go inside!

Jesus points to thirteen inner problems. AA calls them character defects. Some people would be quick to call them sins. But it's not as simple as all that. I grew up thinking that just about everything was a sin. But whatever we call them,  the list in verse 23 does seem to say, "Look at what we're capable of!"

It doesn't say these are the only things we're capable of, but these will be familiar to us. In light of these inner realities, ritual impurities: I touched the wrong thing, I ate the wrong food, become irrelevant. Remember, Jesus is saying these things because some religious fellows argued that the disciples hadn't wash their hands ritually!

A clean heart create in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 

That's a good prayer. Would I dare to ask someone who really knows me, "What do you think I might change about myself?" Maybe I have sufficient self-knowledge to admit: "I really don't like that about myself," or even, "I really don't like what I've become."

The path to change can be interesting. It might make me more aware; more mindful. I might cultivate a deeper inner life - more silence perhaps. Who knows, I might begin working with a counselor, attending to the underlying reasons that cause me to behave in old and tired ways. Lots of people go through their entire lives never getting at the old wounds that stir up inner trouble. 

There's an old expression still floating around that we sometimes use when we don't know what else to say: "Time heals all wounds." No it doesn't. Time doesn't heal - God heals. And how God heals is unique to each of us. There's nothing innately healing about time. 

Lenten Mercy~Meditation: Got Gratitude ~ You've Got The Spiritual Life

My eyes open 4:15 ~ the first prayer ~ thank you !
The moon is full ~ thank you!
It has snowed lightly ~ thank you!
Aware of taking this breath ~ thank you!
This scarf that someone has knitted ~ thank you !

I hear the stream which is rushing ~ thank you!
A small pine branch has fallen on the new snow ~ thank you!
I consciously hold the world's children in my heart ~ thank you!
Another breath ~ thank you!
The sunflower seeds at my feeder keep the chickadees from
  freezing this 12 degree night ~ thank you!

I hear the wind chimes ~ thank you!
The trees appear as great shadows ~ thank you!
Another breath ~ thank you!
The painful winter cracks on the tips of my fingers are healing ~ thank you!
The first candle of the day ~ thank you!

These silent moments ~ thank you!
The warmth of my coat ~ thank you!
These companion-ing dogs ~ thank you!
Water is boiling ~ thank you!
Adding gift-honey to my tea ~ thank you!

Another breath ~ thank you!