Thursday, February 11, 2016

Reading: Psalm 51:1-17

Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God."

            For the ancients, and for many spiritual traditions, the heart is the place where the whole person comes together - body, intellect, emotions, spirit. If the heart is made pure, will not also the thoughts be pure? And will not the actions and emotions follow? A Jewish midrash states: "The heart sees, the heart hears, the heart speaks, the heart walks, the heart falls, the heart rejoices, the heart cries out, the heart comforts, the heart suffers, the heart surrenders, the heart errs, the heart trembles, the heart awakens…" (Kohelet Rabbah 1:38) To begin this Lent, this journey of transformation, we pray, as the Orthodox Christians say, "with the mind in the heart". We pray for openness, for holiness, for newness, for cleanness, for new life, for God's springtime - for the heart, and thus, for all of our life.

Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Amen

• Make the sign of the cross as you pray today, centering your intentions toward God in your heart as your hand crosses over your chest.