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Tag Archives: Forgiveness

Luke 7:36-50

18 Sep

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Dear God, I want to forget Simon the Pharisee for a moment and just think about this woman. What did she think she was getting out of this interaction with Jesus? Why was she adoring him so much? He is presumably still in Nain and word had spread about him. The first thing he had done was raise the widow’s son from the dead. Then he healed some people and talked about John the Baptist. What was she thinking as she decided to seek him out and pour out these extravagant gestures upon him? Did she feel the shame and separation from you. I’m sure she felt it from society. Simon knew who she was. I’m sure everyone in town knew who she was. I doubt even this interaction with Jesus changed her reputation in town much–until she started to change as a result of her interaction with Jesus.

So then Jesus does what Jesus does. He mercifully responds to her, accepts her repentance, and then forgives her sins, helping her to simply start fresh, at least from a conscience standpoint. She still has consequences of her sin in her community, but she is now at least good with you. I would love to know what the rest of her life was like.

My wife and I were, coincidentally, talking about Psalm 51 this morning. We were talking about how David didn’t hold anything back in his repentance before you when he brought that psalm not only to you but to the people. He made no excuses. He just asked for mercy. Oh, I’ve been so fortunate to experience your mercy, and I’m grateful. I pray that those who have things against me for which I’ve apologized will be able to show me mercy. And I pray that I will show mercy to those who have wronged me, even if they haven’t apologized.

Father, there is simply no life without forgiveness. Forgiveness from you. Forgiveness from me. And forgiveness towards me. There are some wrongs we simply cannot untangle on our own. I pray that you will help me to forgive and extend mercy. I pray that you will help others who resent me to tell me what I did and give me a chance to repent. I pray for a repentance/mercy exchange between us. Maybe one that will cut both ways. Thank you for this story. Thank you for how this woman speaks to me 2,000 years later. She wasn’t thinking about her place in human history that day. She just wanted mercy and a fresh start from the God of the universe, and you granted her that. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2025 in Luke

 

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Matthew 12:14-21

19 Jul

Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, but he warned them not to reveal who he was.

This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him: “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”
Matthew 12:14-21

Dear God, I particularly touched by the end of this passage from Isaiah: “Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

I will probably be talking about the men from Christian Men’s Life Skills for a long time. I’ve been so moved by my time with them. All of them had some type of run-in with the law and were there to earn community service hours. On the day they were arrested for whatever it was they had done, I am sure they did not care much for justice. I am sure they didn’t want it to be victorious. They were probably, at a minimum, embarrassed and, at a maximum, furious that justice was treating them like this. What they didn’t know was you had a path for them through that gate. At some point down the road they would end up in a class with 19 other guys as well as some instructors who were donating their time to not only teach them but love them. Offer them grace through your power and love. Offer them you! And they found their hope. Not all 20 of them at this experience. But that’s okay because you still planted seeds in them that might just take a little longer to find fertile soil.

It reminds me of a Phillips, Craig, and Dean song called “Mercy Came Running.” It’s a deep cut back into 90s Christian music. The chorus says, “Mercy came a runnin’, like a prisoner set free. Past all my failures to the point of my need. When the sin that I carried was all I could see. And when I could not reach mercy, mercy came a runnin’ to me.” These guys have found the mercy in your justice. I’m finding it everyday for myself as well. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. It’s a two-way street. It’s impossible to really receive mercy if I’m incapable or unwilling to give it.

Father, I pray for these men, the teachers and myself. We all need to give mercy and receive mercy from you and others we’ve hurt. Thank you for your system of justice. Thank you that the name of Jesus is the hope of all the world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 19, 2025 in Matthew

 

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John 11:45-54

12 Apr

45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.

53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. 54 As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.

John 11:45-54

Dear God, I don’t know where Sister Miriam is going to go with this passage in today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but I had a thought as I read it. You made this plan Caiaphas-proof. Caiaphas was wrong. He thought Jesus was here to lead a revolution. He thought the people were stupid enough to follow him into a hopeless revolution. He thought he was protecting everyone. He thought he was doing the right thing.

I wonder what would have happened if Caiaphas had gone to Jesus in the night like Nicodemus did back in John 3 and just asked him flat out, “Jesus, you’re obviously special. Please explain to me what you’re up to.” In retrospect, that’s what he should have done although that would have changed your plan. Yeah, everything worked the way it was supposed to. Maybe it was because Jesus had been so insulting of the Pharisees up to that point. Maybe Caiaphas’s heart was already hardened, much like Pharoah’s. Little did he know the Temple was already going to be destroyed in a few years. Nothing lasts forever.

In her writing for today, Sister Miriam is still talking about forgiveness, both accepting it and offering it to others. I still don’t quite understand how she links it to this passage except that Jesus’s real purpose was to offer forgiveness to us. But she has a line that made me think of Caiaphas: “We offer to Jesus our pain, agony, bitterness, and hardened hearts, and he takes our offering, brings it to his heart upon the Cross on which he hangs, and in return offers us mercy for the forgiveness of our own sins, healing from the sins others have committed against us, and the restoration of our lives.” Just the fact that I had mentioned Caiaphas’s hardened heart and she included “hardened hearts” in her writing made me curious about Caiaphas. What were his hurts? What were his fears? What needed forgiven in his life. Whom did he need to forgive?

Father, I am sorry. I have been arrogant. I have been judgmental. I have been harsh. I have been selfish and self-indulgent. Oh, my Jesus, as I sit here now, imagining you on the Cross, I am grateful. And I’m so sorry. I have no right to expect anything out of life, including the kindness of others to me. I already have it so much better than I deserve because you are with me. You love me. You forgive me. Thank you. Help me to release others from what I think they owe me and to simply live in the gratitude of what you’ve done for me and then offer that same gift from you to them.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 6:60-71

11 Apr

60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

John 6:60-71

Dear God, in today’s reflection from Sister Miriam in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, she focused on verses 63 and 68. What she quoted: “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” “…You have the words of eternal life.” I copied all of the verses around these words because I think context is important, but the nugget she’s extracting from those 12 verses are the heart of the truth from this passage. Jesus was of you. Was you. Where else can I go?

As I think about forgiveness this week, both receiving it and giving it to others, I know I have work to do. How do I know? Because last night I had a dream I haven’t had in a while (at least that I remember) of really yelling at someone who has done things that have hurt me. I’ve talked to this person about it before, but they just don’t see it. And they continue to do it. This isn’t a person I can just remove from my life. They are an integral part of it. How do I move forward?

My wife sent me a link this morning from the Abiding Together Podcast as I was getting ready that happens to be a forgiveness meditation by Sister Miriam. She doesn’t know yet that I had this dream last night. We haven’t had a chance to talk yet this morning. But I foresee myself sitting with this meditation at some point today.

In the entry from today’s Restored reflection from Sister Miriam, she gives her steps in the meditation:

  1. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you whom you need to forgive. (It could be a family member, a friend, an abuser, or yourself.)
  2. Picture the person in front of you and pay attention to what you feel in your heart and body.
  3. Make an account of the debt they own you. (What did they take from you? How did they hurt you? It is okay to feel angry or nothing at all.)
  4. Imagine telling them what they did to hurt you and how it has affected you.
  5. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any identity lies you believe about yourself based on the incident.
  6. Renounce the identity lie: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce the like that I am not loved or cared for, that I have to perform to be loved, and so forth.”
  7. Announce the truth of your identity in Christ: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I announce the truth that I am see, that I am valuable, that I am loved, and so forth.”
  8. Bring the person with you to meet Jesus on the Cross at Calvary; look at his face of care and mercy.
  9. Ask Jesus to forgive the person.
  10. Ask Jesus to give you the grace to forgive the person.
  11. Pray a prayer of blessing for that person. Ask God to bless them and heal them on their journey.
  12. Ask Jesus to seal this forgiveness and heal the wounds in your life.
  13. Thank God for his healing mercy and grace.

Father, this will be one I have to do offline, but I’ll see you later this morning with this. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 11, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 95

10 Apr

Psalm 95

1 Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
7     for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
8 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
9 For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw everything I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Dear God, reading this as a 21st-century American, I’m shocked with how this worship psalm ends. Was this typical for them? Did it cycle around and use something as a chorus to make this ending more hopeful and worshipful. I am preaching at a church several weeks from now, and I started to wonder if the first part of this psalm wasn’t the message you wanted me to give. “If only you would listen to his voice today.” Then I saw the rest of it that ended in such a negative place. It stunned me. I know I’ve read this before, and I’ve probably had the same response before. But it still stuns me to see this description by the psalmist of what they imagined you felt (or you revealed to them you felt) for those 40 years between Egypt and they Jordan.

In today’s entry into Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam actually focused on the line I focused on, but she included the first part of verse 8, “Don’t harden your hearts…” She quote the Catholic Catechism (CCC 2840): “Now–and this is daunting–this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” She follows up later and says, “Forgiveness is asking Jesus Christ for the grace to forgive. It is relinquishing our grasp upon the person who hurt us, surrendering the person to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore justice. It is an acknowledgment of the pain inflicted, how it affected us, an ongoing emotional release of it, and a decision to offer that person and ourselves a gift of love and freedom.”

Father, there are times when I think I have forgiven everyone, but then anger flashed back to me. Maybe it’s a new offense. Maybe it’s a reminder of an offense that I thought I had worked through and forgiven. Maybe it’s trying to find that line between loving and forgiving while still not trusting. I do know that I don’t want a hard heart. Even in my daily vocation, I work with clients who sometimes deceive me to get what they want. It can be hard to not become calloused for the next person even though they might legitimately need me. As I sit here now, I’m reminded of an old song by Petra called “Don’t Let Your Heart be Hardened.” I just looked up the song and listened to it. Frankly, it sounded pretty trite and “easy to say,” until I got to the last verse:

Let His love rain down upon you
Breaking up your fallow ground
Let it loosen all the binding
Till only tenderness is found

I think that the key to be really becoming forgiving and merciful is coming to deep terms with how sinful I really am and how much I really grieve you sometimes. And also how sinful I was before I finally turned to you and started worshipping you faithfully. But when I really see myself in the mirror, accept who I am and what I’ve been forgiven of, then I will more easily give your love and forgiveness to others. Help me to do all of this, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2025 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 8:31-36

09 Apr

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

John 8:31-36

Dear God, in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam focuses today on verse 32: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But before I start thinking about the freedom you’re offering, I need to think about what is keeping me un-free. What has be captive that I need freedom from? Jesus answers that question specifically in verse 34: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”

So why is it that my sin is able to and does enslave me? What is happening there? Carrying around shame and guilt is a big part of it. No matter how much we might try to brush it off or ignore it, there is this piece of our conscience that will needle us. Sometimes it will cause us to protect the sin. To not confess it, but to secretly carry the burden of it. Those are the shameful sins like stealing, lust, or adultery. Even up to murder.

Then there are the subtle sins that just slowly poison us. Sins like envy and gossiping. Or how about hate? That’s one that we just carry around with us, but Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that to hate is as bad on our soul as murder.

But Jesus offers something unique. Absolution. Forgiveness from you. Reconciliation with you. Freedom to move in the world as someone who sins but has a weird freedom from its guilt and shame. And when we have this freedom and we take that freedom and use it to simply follow you, pray to you, get to know you, etc., then these weird fruits start to just grow out of us naturally, even in the worst of circumstances. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Goodness. Kindness. Gentleness. Faithfulness. Self-control. And others will notice the difference. When those fruits start to grow out of me, they will see you in those fruits.

Father, lest I forget, one of the commands Jesus gave me was to forgive others as you have forgiven me. Oh, how this can be hard. But that self-righteous decision to hold onto my anger and ill-wishes for another person are sin too. And they poison me. And you know they poison me. So help me to know what real forgiveness looks like. I pray you will lead me just a little deeper into the center of your heart today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 9, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 102:1

08 Apr

Psalm 102

A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord.

1 Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!

Psalm 102:1

Dear God, I wanted to capture not only the verse that Sr. Miriam highlighted today in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but also include the description of the psalm given to us by scripture. As I think about the pervasive problem in my life that I have poured out to you for well over a decade now, I can say that I’m actually tired of it. I’m tired of praying about it. I’m tired of lamenting it. I’m tired of the pain that I’m addressing when I pray about it. I’m tired of the pain I feel from it. To some extent, I feel hopeless about it, and my prayer feels fruitless.

It’s that last one that gives me pause and want to un-say all of the rest of the things I just said. Has the prayer really been fruitless? I don’t know that it has done anything to make the situation any better or the pain any less, but I can say that it has affected me. It has changed me. I’ve discovered things about myself and about you that I didn’t know 10 or 15 years ago. I’m better now. I’m also more sensitive to the pain of others. The fire has refined me. The breaking has allowed you to put me back together in a better way.

It’s interesting to get older and feel legitimately closer to death. I’m still relatively young and likely have decades ahead of me, but I’m just feeling the slippage of time in a way I didn’t used to. I think part of my pain now is that I don’t know if the situation over which I lament will be resolved in my lifetime. Will I die with this pain and disappointment?

So now I need to think about the forgiveness part of this lament. The hurt I’m experiencing was caused by the actions of many, including my own. Do I forgive the actions of the others? Do I forgive myself?

Father, that is part of this process too: Forgiveness. I need to remember that the sorrow comes from some situation, and my mind is probably blaming someone for that situation, including myself. Help me to identify what needs to be forgiven in others and myself, and help me to not only extend that forgiveness, but then know how to and how not to act on that forgiveness. Where do I draw the line? Help me get there.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 8:1-11

06 Apr

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

John 8:1-11

Dear God, so okay, I’ve been struggling with what forgiveness looks like over the last couple of weeks. But I am reminded over and over again, especially during Lent, that Jesus made forgiveness a critical piece of our lives. And he modeled that through his life. Quoting Sister Miriam from today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation:

Not only does Jesus exhort us to ask the Father to forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but also he immediately reiterates and augments this portion of the prayer at its conclusion to expound upon the necessity of it (see Matthew 6:14-15). Of all the things Jesus could beseech us to pray for and about, he insists upon forgiveness. But he does not just speak about it; he shows us the reality of it upon the Cross, offering his life on behalf of the forgiveness of our sins, pleading with the Father to “forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

So that’s one of the big things for me to keep in mind here. I am honestly not sure if the people who are hurting me the most right now even know they are doing it. Or understand that it’s wrong. Or maybe it’s not wrong. Maybe I’m wrong. Frankly, it can be hard to know. But is part of the forgiveness process understanding the other person is possibly ignorant of their offense? I understand that sometimes people intentionally hurt and forgiveness needs to be extended in those cases as well, but do we need to start with giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming ignorance of offense?

Father, I want to close with a prayer Sister Miriam used to close yesterday’s meditation, making it my own prayer to you: Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I offer you my heart and the places where bearing wrongs from other people has been so difficult. Please forgive me for the ways I have tried to destructively cope and save myself and turn away from your love. Please be with me here and give me the gift of true patience with an open and offering heart, united to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 6, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Collect for Mass of the Day – March 25, 2025

25 Mar

May your grace not
Forsake us, O Lord, we
Pray,
But make us dedicated to
Your holy service
And at all times obtain for
Us your help

Collect for Mass of the Day – March 25, 2025

Dear God, I want to take the grace you have given me and turn it to the world, to serve and to love in your name. Please help me to do this. I think that is what the “Collect for Mass of the Day” is telling me I should think, and I agree. That is a good life.

I guess one question would be, why do I need this external grace from you. If I’m a human who has made mistakes, why can’t I just forgive myself, apologize to those I wronged, if there are any, and then move on. Why do I need forgiveness from you? How does that make my life better?

Those are actually good questions that have vague answers. For the person who doesn’t believe in you, it is my opinion, that they are still grappling with guilt that they cannot absolve themselves. There is something in our psyche that knows that, while we have sinned against others or even our own bodies, the repentance David gave in Psalm 51 after his affair with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah is appropriate when he says that it is against you he has sinned. Again, my opinion, I think there is something in all of us that knows you’re there, at least in some form, and that we are accountable to you. I talked a week or two ago about the man I know who didn’t like the rules you made, so he decided he would remove you from the equation and, thus, remove his own guilt. I think he’s still living by that philosophy, but I don’t think it’s working. I think he is still burdened by his guilt.

And then going back to the “Collect for Mass of the Day,” if I get to a point where I have come to you, repented, and receive absolution from you, then I can take that freedom and offer it to others. I can love them. I can love you.

Father, let me start with repentance. I confess to you, Almighty God, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words. In what I have done, and what I have failed to do. Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask the Holy Spirit to pray for me. I am sorry. Thank you for redemption and reconciliation through Jesus. Thank you, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 25, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Collect for Mass of the Day – March 22, 2025

22 Mar 
O God, who grant us
  By glorious healing
  Remedies while still on 
  Earth
To be partakers of the 
  Things of heaven,
Guide us, we pray, through
  This present life
And bring us to that light
  In which you dwell

Collect for Mass of the Day - March 22, 2025

Dear God, it is so evident to me that we are damaged. All of us. It reminds of me the poem "This be the Verse" by Philip Larkin. I know I've mentioned this in prayers before: 

They [mess] you up, your mum and dad.   
    They may not mean to, but they do.   
They fill you with the faults they had
    And add some extra, just for you.

But they were [messed] up in their turn
    By fools in old-style hats and coats,   
Who half the time were soppy-stern
    And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself.

It started with Adam and Eve and it trickles into today. I don’t agree with the last line of this poem, that we shouldn’t have any kids ourselves. But I fear that is the sentiment todays youth are carrying into adulthood. When they see the pain they feel hopeless. Like the world is doomed. And I’ll admit that I would not want to raise a child in the current technological world, much less the one that will be around in 10-20 years from now.

So what do we do now? From the collect of the mass today, we look for your glorious healing. I was just talking with someone about what we are selling when we present your Gospel. Is it fire insurance–rescue from hell–or is it healing now. Receiving forgiveness. Learning how to extend forgiveness. Receiving your “remedies while still on earth.” “To be partakers in the things of heaven.” To be part of your kingdom coming and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Going back to the poem, it’s the last stanza that needs your redemption. That’s where Mr. Larkin is missing you. The deepening of the coastal shelf will happen without you, but with you–with your grace, both received and given–that coastal shelf will be filled in and the children we bring into the world will have the opportunity to bring that grace forward. Oh, Father, help me to be part of bringing your grace forward through my reception of your grace and then extending it to others.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 22, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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