Saturday of the Third Week of Lent - March 9, 2013
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Luke 18:9 – 14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Prayer, for me at least, has not gotten more complex through the years. I have not discovered intricate prayer forms that unlock God-secrets in order to give me access to divine mysteries. I have not found methods for prayer that assure ecstatic experiences that are incomprehensible.
My prayer through the years has come to be very simple. Sometimes it is silent sitting.
Sometimes it is quiet meditation on a one word or a short phrase.
When I want to pray for another person or situation, I may just say the name out loud and then, “Mercy.” It is a simple prayer that commends a person or situation into God’s hands.
God’s nature is, among other things, mercy; therefore, the simple prayer is an acknowledgement of who God is and what God is able to do in any given person or situation.
It’s short and simple. And very often, it’s all I can pray. Perhaps in the end, it’s the best I could possibly pray.
Luke 18:9 – 14
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Prayer, for me at least, has not gotten more complex through the years. I have not discovered intricate prayer forms that unlock God-secrets in order to give me access to divine mysteries. I have not found methods for prayer that assure ecstatic experiences that are incomprehensible.
My prayer through the years has come to be very simple. Sometimes it is silent sitting.
Sometimes it is quiet meditation on a one word or a short phrase.
When I want to pray for another person or situation, I may just say the name out loud and then, “Mercy.” It is a simple prayer that commends a person or situation into God’s hands.
God’s nature is, among other things, mercy; therefore, the simple prayer is an acknowledgement of who God is and what God is able to do in any given person or situation.
It’s short and simple. And very often, it’s all I can pray. Perhaps in the end, it’s the best I could possibly pray.
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