Thursday, March 19, 2020

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Reading: I Samuel 16:1-13
St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus
SPRING EQUINOX, 11:50 PM

“… the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”     I Samuel 16:7

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing as the season of Lent begins. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing in the liturgy at the Great Entrance of the Eucharist. A clean heart. The heart is where the whole person comes together – body, spirit, mind. What is intended by the mind takes up residence in the body and spirit. What is done with the body takes residence in the spirit and the mind. All are interwoven. In the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, heard through this Epiphany season, Jesus spoke over and over again about intention. How crucial are the intentions of the heart! Other people see our actions which may seem just, but God sees the motivations, the intentions, the energy behind our acts. In T.S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket struggles with the possibility of martyrdom, and whether he might actually be desiring the glory that comes with it:

“Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

God of light, awaken us to see the glory of life in you.  Amen


  • Place on your altar a picture of someone experiencing hardship. Pray for them.

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