Create in me a clean heart

May 6, 2022May 5, 2022 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

I thank you, my dear God,

that I have learned not to begin faith by my own efforts,

nor attempt to destroy my sin with my own repentance.

I might do this before other people

and be acceptable to the world and its judges.

But with you, O God, there is an eternal wrath

which I cannot satisfy,

and before it I would despair.

Therefore I thank you that Another

has seized and carried my sins

and has made atonement for them.

With joy I wish to believe this.

It seems so very right and comforting to me.

But I cannot believe it by myself,

and I find no power in me to convince myself.

I cannot comprehend it as I ought.

Lord, lead me, help me.

Give me the power and the gift to believe.

I plead, as did David:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.”

I am unable to create a new and clean heart: it is your work and creation.

I cannot create the sun and moon

and make them rise and shine brightly in the heavens

any more than I can make the heart clean and give myself a right spirit,

a strong and firm frame of mind that is unbending and unwavering

and that will not doubt or mistrust your Word.

Help us daily to increase in faith.

Though the world should topple and all conspire against us,

and though the devil were to destroy every creature,

grant that I may not fall.

By your divine help let me remain in the Gospel.

Amen.

Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546, German Reformer

Luther‘s Prayers

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Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

the royal way of humility

October 9, 2021October 8, 2021 / Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

My dear Lord and Savior, I come to you burdened and oppressed by many worries and slavish work, by an unbearable yoke, which I have imposed on myself because of my lack of humility.

It is a burden which I have deserved, but it is also the heavy yoke of a sinful world, of collective pride and arrogance. We are tied together in this lamentable condition. I groan and sigh, realizing my plight in this double slavery of mine and the world. What a relief if I listen to your invitation, “Come to me all whose load is heavy”! Yes, now I dare to come.

The more I meditate on the crushing burdens you have carried in your humility, accepting even the most atrocious humiliation from proud and arrogant human beings, the more I am filled with grateful wonder. In your divine glory and your human humility you are totally Other, so different from the close-minded and high-handedness of man. You are the wholly Other, the only true God, so unlike man-made gods. You have come into the valley of tears where misery is constantly multiplied by humankind’s ridiculous pride. You come with the astonishing remedy, the humility of the Son of God, of the Redeemer, who has freely made himself “one-of-us” in all things except sin: the totally holy and humble One.

You come to us whose vanity and pride are odious. You come on the royal road of humility, showing us that this is the way to you and to the heart of the Father, the way to the hearts of our fellow men and the way of salvation.

Humble heart of our Divine Master, I entrust myself to your school. I want to learn from you, day by day, the royal way of humility. It is your own love that teaches us.

Lord, transform our hearts, make them mirror images of your own heart. Make them fountains of healing for many. Lord, make us humble.

Bernard Häring 1912 – 1998, German Catholic moral theologian

The HarperCollins Book of Prayers

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Philippians 2:5-8

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

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You, Who Are

October 6, 2021October 5, 2021 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

_{Transfiguration / Giovanni Bellini / Wikimedia Commons}

You, who are over us,

You, who are one of us,

You, who are –

Also within us,

May all see You – in me also,

May I prepare the way for You,

May I thank You for all that shall fall to my lot,

May I also not forget the needs of others,

Keep me in Your love

As You desire that all should be kept in mine.

May everything in this, my being, be directed to Your glory

And may I never despair.

For I am under Your hand,

And in You is all power and goodness.

Give me a pure heart – that I may see You,

A humble heart – that I may hear You,

A heart of love – that I may serve You,

A heart of faith – that I may abide in You.

Dag Hammarskjöld, 1905 – 1961, Swedish diplomat, UN Secretary General

Markings freely modified

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Psalm 24:1-6

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob

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