Monday Morning Offering - 59

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I'm pondering the words of St. Paul
from yesterday's Mass:
Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma...

Like incense rising,
Christ's love, fragrant with giving,
wisps its way to you
and you, good God,
inhale the perfume of his perfect love for us,
poured into your hands,
a sacrifice of peace...

You breathe in the aroma of his gift
sweet with the scent of sacrifice:
no burnt offering here,
only selfless life and love
laid down, broken, poured out for others...

When you seek the same from me, Lord,
I would be lost were I not saved, anointed,
oiled with the Spirit's chrism:
rendered so redolent with Christ's grace
that you inhale from my heart a bouquet
more exquisite than any deeds of mine might own...

And for such a gift I offer you this morning
my thanks and praise
that the Spirit breathes afresh in me
a fragrance you find pleasing...

Teach me to follow
when your Spirit beckons and to give
and give freely from the depths of my heart
what I jealously hold and keep for myself...

Help me make the offering
whose sweetness you welcome;
help me find in the giving
a joy I've not yet known...

Let me catch the aroma of Christ's presence
in those whose paths cross mine today
and lead me to savor the peace it brings...

Good God of Monday mornings,
sweeten every day this week
with the scent of your grace...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor