Saturday, 3/11Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite
heart, O God, you will not despise. Last year my lenten devotion was to use the “Jesus Prayer” in my mediation practice. I was under the influence of Franny from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, who was under the influence of a “peculiar little cloth-bound book”, a copy of The Way Of A Pilgrim. In The Way Of A Pilgrim an unknown 18th century Russian wanderer recounts his days learning to pray without ceasing. Franny is very taken with this notion of internalized prayer—in this case, the Jesus Prayer which is repeated until is becomes self-active and unconscious—like a heartbeat. The goal in this practice (as in all mystical and contemplative pursuits) is union with God/the divine/creation. Like Franny and the pilgrim, I too am seeking to know God in this way and thought I would try their technique of repeating over and over the phrase: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. What I noticed first was that the word mercy bothered me—indeed the whole notion of asking Jesus for mercy made me uncomfortable. Was I in such great need of mercy? What exactly was mercy? The mercy I grew up with was the stuff of appeasing an angry God, of appealing to God/Jesus is their infinite holiness to deign to accept me in my existential state of defiled sinfulness. Mercy from that spiritual point of view involved God lowering himself to love us. But this no longer rang true. For me God was no longer a separate entity condescending to love me, God had become Emmanuel in my heart, God with us, God with me. And Jesus had become that very concept in human form—the literal embodiment of God's limitless desire to be with us. The notion of mercy in that light is about union, not separation. When I thought it through I realized this is what the prayer is about—about creating union with God through petition of His son, the incarnation of His love. This Lent I encourage you to try this practice. Sit quietly for 20 minutes per day and breathe in and out the phrase Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. These powerful, ancient and mystical words (like Psalm 51, the basis of our liturgical prayer for forgiveness) will transform your notion of God and what it means to be loved by him—especially as we prepare for Easter, our Christian tradition's spiritual big bang of divine unending love. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me - Becky Ford
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