NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 4/5

 

Late have I loved you, Lord...

- St. Augustine

 

Lent ends at sundown tomorrow

when Holy Thursday ushers in the Triduum,

the holiest days of all the days of the year:

   Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday

      and Easter Sunday...

Not sure I've done a great job with Lent, Lord.

I had good intentions and high hopes back on Ash Wednesday

but maybe I promised you (and myself) too much.

Maybe I should have been more honest about where I was

before making pledges about getting to where I wanted to be...

Maybe I was trying to impress you (or myself)
with promises too big to keep.

If I'd been more modest in my goals and ambition

I might be looking at a better Lenten record today.
If I'd depended more on you and less on me,
I might have been more faithful to my Lenten plans...

But there's no grace in stewing in my failures 

and I know you, Lord:
I know you're the God of second chances,

the Lord of new beginnings...

I could just feel bad about the time I wasted and lost
- or  -

I can look ahead with resolve
and make the best of the time that's left.

And what's left, Lord?

Well, there are only hours left in Lent

but then new days of special prayer and grace,

preparing for and celebrating Easter..

So, here's my plan, Lord.

 

1) I'm going to spend some time

        remembering how much I need your mercy...

 

2) I'm going to spend some time on each of the days ahead,

        some time in a quiet place, alone with you,

        some time to talk, to pray, just to be with you...     

 

3) I'm going to reflect on "giving up something"

        that fills but doesn't feed me

    and looking for those things

        that nourish my soul and satisfy my heart... 

 

4) And I'm going to find a way in the week ahead

            to reach out to those in need

    and to give generously 

            from all you've given me, Lord...

 

5) And to make the most of the time left to me

        between now and Easter

    I'm going to join the church in prayer

        on each of these most holy days...

 

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.  

 

(Tonight's song is Kathleen Deignan's beautiful setting of

Saint Augustine's prayer, "Late have I loved you, Lord..." 

We're never too late to pray, never too late to begin Lent,

we're never too late for God...)

 

Sero Te Amavi by Kathleen Deignan

 

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(The first three lines in Latin 

    are translated in in the fourth and  fifth lines.)

Sero te amavi,
pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova.
Sero te amavi!
Late have I loved thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new.

I was searching all around me; you were all within.

I grasped at your beauty everywhere
and longed to have and hold what can but be beheld.
Sero te amavi!

You attracted, I, distracted, did not see
the Giver of all gifts was gracing me.

 

Sero te amavi,
pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova.
Sero te amavi!
Late have I loved thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new.

 
You called, you shouted – piercing through my deafness;
You flashed, you shone – dispelling all my blindness.
Sero te amavi!

 
You breathed your fragrance on me,
I drew my breath and now I am breathless for thee.
I tasted your sweetness and now I am famished for you –
you touched me; now I'm burning for your peace.
Late have I loved thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new!
I was searching all around me; you were all within.

Sero te amavi! Vero te amavi…
(Late have I loved Thee!  Truly have I loved thee...)

              

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