A Psalm for Easter

I love the Lord, for he has heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, save me!”

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, he saved me.

Be at rest once more, O my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Psalm 116:1-9 (NIV)

A Good Friday Psalm

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?

Turn, O Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

Psalm 6 (NIV)

Moving towards Easter in the Desert

“'It is finished' . . . should be taken in the sense of consummatum est­-it is consummated, fulfilled, brought to perfection. . . . This is the cross point in the Great Story, from the ‘In the beginning’ of creation to the last words of the Bible, ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!’ At the cross point, everything is retrieved from the past and everything is anticipated from the future, and the cross is the point of entry to the heart of God from whom and for whom, quite simply, everything is.”
Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon, 187, 189.­

Moving towards Easter in the Desert

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

The Land of Sacrifice
“The desert . . . is the chosen land of sacrifice . . . . Instead of the garden of delights, the steppe; instead of leafy trees, the Cross. Man lost himself in the earthy paradise; he redeems himself in the wilderness. The Cross is the true tree of life.”
A Monk

“They who enter the way of life in faith bear the cross patiently. They who advance in hope bear the cross readily. They who are perfected in charity embrace the cross ardently.”
Bernard of Clairveuax

Moving towards Easter in the Desert

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

The Darkness of Faith

“The experience of prayer in the desert shows that what we normally consider light is our own light, not God’s. The desert requires us to put out our little flame. Then, in the absence of human lights, our eyes will get used to the brightness of God’s light. Darkness there is the prerequisite for seeing. It then becomes futile to attempt to see God’s light with the aid of our light. All too readily we cry out ‘Lord, grant that I may see!’ But few of us seem prepared to receive the gift of sight through the painful process of becoming blind first.”

Alessandro Pronzato

Moving towards Easter in the Desert

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

Encountering God
"It is small advantage for eyes to see if the heart is blind.
The great world brims over with his glory, yet he may only dwell where a person chooses to give him entrance."
Abbot Nicholas

"The glory of God is a man or a woman who is truly alive."
Ireneaus

Moving towards Easter in the Deser

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

The Healing Power of God
“Prayer . . . is not a rejection of the present; it is rather a realisation that the present is not enough.”
Alessandro Pronzato

Moving towards Easter in the Desert

For the last weeks of Lent until Easter, we will provide daily reflections on the a desert journey. The citations come from John Moses, The Desert. An Anthology for Lent (Harrisburg, PA.: Morehouse, 1997).

Humility
“Certain old men said, ‘If thou seest a young man ascending by his own will up to heaven catch him by the foot and throw him down upon the earth, for it is not expedient for him.”
The Desert Fathers

“Just as one cannot build a ship unless one has some nails, so it is impossible to be saved without humility.”
Abbess Syncletica