Sunday's Gospel
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'"
And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" -Luke 18:1-8
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About This Week's Prompts for Personal Meditation
Sometimes it's only in retrospect that I realize I have persevered at something. Usually I'm too busy doing what I have to do in the moment. But when given (or just taking) the opportunity for reflection, I find that I've made progress through all sorts of struggles and wrestlings to better myself in one way or the other.
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not lose heart. In a certain city sits a comically ridiculous judge - and we all know the fellow! This misanthrope doesn't care about your righteous cause. But God does. Nevertheless, pray like the importunate widow, says Jesus, break through the guardians of your own fear, timidity, propriety, pride. Let the world see you rattle upon the gates of heaven demanding justice. And don't lose heart.
The meditations for this week draw upon the virtue of perseverance (meditation one), asking God for the very gift of perseverance with which to approach God (meditation two) and, like Jacob contending with the angel through the night, embracing the new life that comes with dawn.
Steadfastly yours,
Suzanne
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Meditation One
perseverance
A hermit has persevered for thirty years. One day he said to himself, 'I have now spent so many years here and I have had not vision and performed no miracle as did the Fathers who were monks before me'. And he was tempted to go back into the world. Then he was told, 'What miracle do you want to perform that would be more extraordinary than the patience and courage God has given you and which allowed you to persevere for so long?'
A Desert Father
cited by Marcel Driot, from The Desert, An Anthology for Lent, John Moses
It is not perfection that leads us to God; it is perseverance.
-Joan Chittister OSB
The Rule of Benedict
In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold:
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.
-Charles Wesley 1707-1788
Wrestling Jacob (verse 3)
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| Unknown Illustrator of Petrus Comestor's Bible Historiale, 1372 |
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Miscellany
Advice from Bernard of Clairvaux
When you are feeling strong, do not be complacent, but call to God with the prophet and say: "When my strength fails me, do not abandon me" [Ps 70:9]. And in time of temptation be consoled and say with the bride: "Draw me after you, and we shall run in the odor of your ointments" [Ps 33:2]. Thus you will not lose hope in bad times, nor will foresight desert you in good times, and amid both the prosperity and adversity of changing times you will retain an certain image of eternity - that is, this inviolable and unshakable constancy of a stable soul - blessing the Lord at every moment. In this way you claim for yourself, even amid the doubtful events and inevitable deficiencies of this changing world, a certain status of lasting unchangeability while you begin to renew and reform yourself according to the ancient pattern of likeness to the eternal God, "in whom there is neither alteration nor the shadow of change" [Jas 1:17].
Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153
On the Song of Songs
quoted from Essential Monastic Wisdom, Hugh Feiss
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| Jacob Wrestles the Angel, Unknown Illustrator of Petrus Comestor's Bible Historiale, 1372 |
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Meditation Two
let me go steadily on
My God,
I pray that I may so know you and love you
that I may rejoice in you.
And if I may not do so fully in this life,
let me go steadily on
to the day when I come to that fullness. …
God of truth,
I ask that I may receive,
so that my joy may be full.
Meanwhile,
let me mind meditate on it,
let my tongue speak of it,
let my heart love it,
let my mouth preach it,
let my soul hunger for it,
my flesh thirst for it,
and my while being desire it,
until I enter into the joy of my Lord,
who is God one and triune,
blessed forever. Amen.
-Anselm c.1033-1109
Proslogion
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Meditation Three
till daybreak
Weeping we hold him fast to-night;
We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
And summer smile the snow.
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say "Arise, My love,
My fair one, come away."
-Christina Rossetti 1830-1894
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The Last Word
The Present, the Present is all thou hast
For thy sure possessing;
Like the patriarch's angel hold it fast
Till it gives its blessing.
-John Greenleaf Whittier 1807-1892
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Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
collect for proper 23
Book of Common Prayer
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| Jacob Wrestles the Angel, Michiel van der Borch, 1332 |
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