August 19, 2010
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:26-28
“[W]hen the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence…Many are invited, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:11-14
Piety
A Prayer To Change Your Heart
Most Precious Lord Jesus…
Gentle And Wonderful God…
Truly Awesome And Ever-present Holy Spirit…
In my grief, be with me and change my heart.
In my anger, be with me and change my heart.
In my pain, be with me and change my heart.
In my doubt, be with me and change my heart.
In my wrongful passions, be with me and change my heart.
I despise all my dark emotions so change me into your likeness.
Change me into your likeness so I my walk in your joy.
Change me into your likeness so I may walk in your peace.
Change me into your likeness so I may walk in your serenity.
Change me into your likeness so I may walk in your certainty.
Change me into your likeness so I may walk in your righteousness and holiness.
All these things I humbly pray in the name of my most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, my Mighty God, and my Ever-present Holy Spirit upon whom I can rely. Amen.
(http://www.findthepower.com/PrayerPages/PrayerPageChangeYourHeart.htm)
Study
God is ready for us. But are we ready for God?
God issues an open invitation for us to come to his feast. However, this is not a “come as you are party.” The Lord demands a change in our behavior in order for us to be granted admission.
Throughout this past week, readings from Ezekiel and Matthew have stressed the kind of humbled, love-centered actions that the Lord expects of us. As we studied just yesterday, we are urged to engage in the corporal works of mercy – “strengthen the weak,” “heal the sick,” “bind up the injured,” “bring back the strayed,” and “seek the lost.”
Jesus requires that we act with justice and mercy. No matter how we are behaving currently, we are all invited to the feast of forgiveness. However, unless we undergo a true change of heart – a change which requires that justice and mercy are reflected in our actions – then we might find ourselves among the invited that are not chosen to remain at the party in the true presence of the Lord. Like Adam, if we don’t conform to expected norms of behavior, we might find ourselves on the outside looking in.
This is all a part of the new covenant that Jesus brings. Yet it also is a covenant as old as the Bible. Some of the most important lessons in sacred scripture are delivered with repeated emphasis. Today, we encounter one of those lessons. The promise “I will be your God” appears repeatedly throughout the Hebrew Bible in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Despite, not because of our actions, God continues to want to get personally close to us and to offer us a holy dwelling in his land. To get this benefit, God asks for us to change. Obedience to God’s laws (expectations) will bring us into a closer walk with the Lord. When we don’t come around, God takes the unprecedented, loving step of sending His son to model this desired behavior of obedience and justice and mercy.
Action
The feast is ready. Are you ready to change into your wedding garment?
