PRAYER MOMENT
Tuesday
10 March 2015
A CONTRITE
SPIRIT
Pause. Enter into the stillness of God
within.
Reading: “We have no sacrifice, no
oblation to win your favour. But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit, be
acceptable to you.” (Daniel 3:34 -43)
Reflection. Both the whole sweep of
Israel’s history and the individual segments of it present us with sharp
metaphors, parables, for our own experience. Israel in Babylon reaches its
lowest point. They have ‘no leader, no prophet, no prince, no holocaust, …’
They have no one but themselves and their misery. And at this point they realise
that their relationship with God cannot rest on governments or religious practices.
It has to be interior – a deeply personal conversion. I have just looked up the
meaning of ‘contrition.’ It means ‘with rubbing.’ You can’t clean a pot without
rubbing. And that goes for a child at bath time! And we can’t rely on external practices
in Lent. Some interior rubbing is required.
Prayer. Lord, help us to engage
with evil in ourselves and in the world. Show us how ‘to rub’ so that we come
to purity of heart. Amen.
davidharoldbarry@hotmail.com
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