a-Lenten-prayer-a-day, day 23, Monday, March 27, 2017

Note: As a personal, spiritual discipline, I write a prayer for each of the forty days of Lent; each petition focusing on a theme, truly, relating to a care or concern weighing on my mind and heart, at times, vexing my soul and spirit…

On imago Dei: O Precious Lord, You created humankind in Your image.[1] Yea, an eternity of human contemplating canst ne’er reveal all that this means. Yet three things I believe I know. You are wholly Holy, utterly “Other” than I. Thus, I canst ne’er comprehend the fullness of the Sovereign Majesty and the Sacred Mystery of the workings of Your Mind.[2] Thus, I, to have even a thought of You, must have mine imago Dei – mine own image, mine own creation of You. O Precious Lord, by the Illumination of Your Holy Spirit, unceasingly unveil unto me the difference that I may seek You aright. Amen.

 

Illustration: The Creation of Eve (1508-1512), Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Footnotes:

[1] See Genesis 1.26a, 27: God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness”…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

[2] See Isaiah 55.8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

a-Lenten-prayer-a-day, day 1, Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017

 Note: As a personal, spiritual discipline, I write a prayer for each of the forty days of Lent; each petition focusing on a theme, truly, relating to a care or concern weighing on my mind and heart, at times, vexing my soul and spirit…

On the incomprehensibility of the Divine:[1] O God, I do not understand You. The grace of Your Love, granting unto me a salvation that I do not, that I cannot merit, verily, that I think, that I believe impossible for me, and the mercy of Your Love withholding from me the righteous judgment that I, in my sin, deserve, is beyond my comprehension. You are beyond my comprehension. As Your prophet Isaiah declares, Your ways are higher than my ways and Your thoughts than my thoughts,[2] so my greatest imagining, my grandest thought of You, like a sightless, errant arrow falls far short, ne’er a threat to draw near to Your goodness and glory. Nevertheless, though You remain beyond the sight and reach of my reason, You, in Your love, ever stand within the light and grasp of my faith; a faith, which by Your Spirit you grant me, to trust in You. In that faith, in that trust, I give You thanks, always and in all ways. Amen.

Footnotes:

[1] Over many years, I have pondered the words of The Creed of Saint Athanasius, which reads in part: “…the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance…The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible…there are not three incomprehensibles…but…one incomprehensible…” Each time, though drawing no nearer to understanding, all I can say is “Amen.”

[2] See Isaiah 55.8-9