NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 3/14

A long intro tonight that I hope will be worth your time...

While Friday is a day, year 'round, for meditating on the suffering and death of Jesus, the Fridays of Lent have a particular claim on our hearts in this regard.  Many Christians will commemorate Christ's suffering by praying the Fourteen Stations of the Cross.

Some of the 14 Stations have their origin in the gospel accounts of Jesus' last hours - but others are the stuff of pious legend.  For example, while there are three stations dedicated to Jesus falling under the weight of his cross, the gospels don't mention Jesus falling even once.  At the sixth station we meet Veronica, wiping the face of Jesus and then finding his image imprinted on the cloth she used. There's no scriptural basis for Veronica and her kind deed, but the legend is a beautiful one and  worthy of our reflection and prayer.  Below: thus striking image of Veronica and Jesus is found at Saint Augustine Cathedral in Lodwar, Kenya.

 

I wrote this post and prayer four years ago when I was stationed in Belmont.  I was out for a walk when I passed a house where a woman was standing at her front steps, facing the door. A large box lay at her feet, on the stairs.  I was several doors farther along when it dawned on me that she probably needed assistance.  I turned around and called out, "Do you need some help?" She turned around, in tears, and said, "Oh, yes, I do!"  

     

I walked over and could see the box was at least 6 feet long and about 8 inches square in width.  Propped against the 4 stairs leading to her landing, the bottom end of the box had broken open and what appeared to be bed rails were sticking out about 6 inches.  She thanked me for stopping and said, "My apartment's on the second floor!"  I told her I was sure we could manage it together and instructed her to take the other end.  When we tried to lift the box I realized it probably weighed at least 50 pounds: 50 pounds of awkward weight spilling out one end! I asked and the woman told me the box held the parts for an assemble-it-yourself daybed.

 

     We turned the box so that the contents were falling in and not out.  The outdoor stairs were not too difficult - the interior staircase was much steeper and narrower!  We worked to slide the box up the stairs - haltingly: my lifting the bottom end one step at a time while the woman made sure the top end cleared each next stair on her end. We finally made it to her apartment door and slid the box inside. Team work! Success! Delivery!  And one very happy, relieved, grateful woman...

 

That incident led to my writing this prayer:

Oh, Jesus!  

Talk about grace in my face!

 

How often do I pass you on the street

or in the aisles of the grocery store

or in a parking lot,

or in so many places

where you're right in front of me

in need of some help,

a little support,

a word of greeting,

a warm smile,

a helping hand, 

and offer of assistance?

 

How often, Jesus, do I pass by 

    without seeing you,

    without noticing you,

    without acknowledging your being there,

        - even, sometimes, purposely ignoring you? 

Veronica didn't miss you, Lord!

She reached out to you in the simplest way,

    to wipe the sweat and blood from your brow,

    to cleanse your face of the dust of the street,

    to offer a touch of tender kindness

        in your suffering, your pain and your agony...

 

I'm so grateful, Lord, that on my walk

    I met you, standing on your front steps,

        on Trapelo Road in Belmont;

I'm grateful you needed the help I offered;

I'm grateful you accepted my helping hand;

I'm grateful that in that simple moment

    our stories became as one, yours and mine

        with love and care the only motive,

    an encounter of grace, the story's end...

And I'm grateful I saw your face, Lord,

    in the face of the woman I helped...

 

I'm grateful your face was imprinted, Lord,

    traced on my heart, etched on my soul,

    framed in Veronica's smile

    who needed my help 

    at her front door...

I know I've missed you many times, Lord,

    when I've passed you as I come and go

but don't let me miss you the next time

    or the time after that or the time after that...

Let me see you, Lord, 

    and reach out to you

that you might again imprint your face

    on my heart, on my soul, on prayer...

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.

 Turn Your Eyes by Hillsong

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