Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 4/10

Only one week left in Lent, Lord...*

On Ash Wednesday,
I began with the hope and the prayer
that this Lent I'd come back to you
with all my heart...

With all my heart...

I've come back in some ways, Lord,
but I'm not sure I've returned to you
with all my heart...

There are still parts of my heart
I shield and protect,
sometimes holding on
to what I most need to free and let go:
long held hurts and grudges;
unhealed pain I cling to;
anger now grown old and cold,
chilling the warmth within me...

And still there are my heart's old habits:
faults I'd like to think are gone
but which with painful regularity
show their face when least expected,
when I'm least prepared to overcome them...

I've come back in some ways, Lord,
but I'm not sure I've returned to you
with all my heart...

So in this one last week of Lent,
I invite you to come into my heart, Lord:
come in and heal my heart,
come in and cleanse my heart,
come in and change my heart,
come in and warm my heart,
come make your home within me...

I pray for all this because
yours is the mercy I so much need,
you make pure what deeply stains,
you can change what I can't move,
you melt the cold that chills my soul,
you dwell in me with love I don't deserve...

So help me come back to you, Lord,
come back to you with all my heart...

*  
If it seems that Lent has passed you by, remember that it’s never too late to begin to pray, fast and reach out to the poor in preparation for Easter. A lesser failure is having missed Lent thus far; a greater failure would be to pass up these last days of opportunity...


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