Monday, October 15, 2007

Today’s text

Luke 17:11-14

Now it happened that on the way to Jerusalem Jesus was traveling in the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee. As he entered one of the villages, ten men suffering from a virulent skin disease came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, “Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.” When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Now as they were going away they were cleansed.

Prayer

I notice the immediacy your care, Jesus, and of my neediness--though I try hard to deny it.

I, too, stand far off. But unlike those bereft of self and its resources, I soldier on, keeping the necessities of life adequately together. But all the while I hope for something more, something far beyond the soul numbing routines required just to get by.

Not so with the ten who, seeing you, called immediately for mercy. They have nothing of their own to commend them, nothing to make them acceptable to the powers that be. I, on the other hand, live with the illusion that self justification is possible. I remain enrapt in the fantasy that I can create the depth of heart and peace that I crave, birthing the soul that whispers in my depths.

So I do not immediately fly into the arms of your mercy. I trust the strength of human mind and heart: “If I could work a bit harder, try this, do that, be more serious about my disciplines … then I would enter the home for which my heart hungers.”

But I never enter until, disgusted with myself, I surrender. Giving up my illusions and efforts, I plea for the mercy brimming in your divine heart: Take pity, dear Friend. Take pity on a fool who forgets the truth of his own soul.

I am made for you. I come to life only in the presence of a love I can neither control nor summon. Today, may I seek with all my heart that which your heart is so eager to give.

Pr. David L. Miller