A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

It has begun, Lord:
the week we call Holy...

I've read that theologians argue
over whether or not time, or some unit of time,
can actually be holy...

I'll leave that to the scholars this morning
and simply wonder about my growing in holiness
in the week ahead...

Just shy of four days left in Lent,* Lord,
and these are my last four chances in 2012
to live as a Lenten Christian...

And I thank you for these four days!

Four days to be more faithful to prayer,
morning or night or in between,
or whenever you and I might sit down
and just have a chat, one-on-one,
just the two of us, Lord...

Four days to deny myself
some taste or sip, some pleasure or toy
to experience the emptiness denial creates,
the hunger it leaves to be fed
and the chance to wonder
how I might fill and feed the void
with something deeper, better,
more nourishing than the junk
I often consume...

Four days to care for the poor,
to give to the poor, to be with the poor,
to work for the poor...
Four days for such as I
(who have more than I need)
to be grateful for my abundance
and think on how I might share it...

Then three days of prayer so holy
they are but one-day-in-three:
Triduum...

Three days inviting me to enter
the mystery of all mysteries,
the paschal mystery of Jesus...

Three days to remember with the whole Church
how Jesus suffered, died, was buried and rose
that we might have life and have it to the full...

Three days that will not come 'round again
until a year from now,
three days that promise me more, so much more
than I could ever hope to promise in return...

So, I offer you my week, Lord,
and pray you'll make me a little more holy this week,
a little more honest this week,
a little more pure this week,
a little more just this week,
a little more generous this week,
a little more gentle this week,
a little more faithful this week -
than I have ever been before...

I offer you this week and ask you to come to me in prayer,
to fill my emptiness with your presence
and to draw me from my selfish contentment
to serve the needs of those who wait for my assistance...

I offer you this week we call holy
and ask you to keep me faithful to the promise the week offers,
the promise of a life, a depth, a gift of peace
greater than all my hurts and fears...

I offer you this week, Lord,
and pray you'll make me holy,
one day at a time...

Amen.

*Lent ends at sundown on Thursday of Holy Week. With the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Triduum begins. The Triduum ends with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday night.