Lenten Meditations: Saturday 27 March
| Sat Mar 27 |
am: 137, 144 pm: 42, 43 |
Jere 31:27-34 | Rom 11:25-36 | John 11:28-44 |
FIFTH SATURDAY OF LENT – Saint John of Egypt, Hermit 394
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: A man who desired to be alone with God was to become one of the most famous hermits of his time. St. John of Egypt was born around 304. Not much is known about his childhood except that he learned the carpenter’s trade. When he was twenty-five, John decided to leave the world for good to spend his life in prayer and sacrifice for God. He was one of the famous desert hermits of that time. Many also came to seek his advice about important matters. Even Emperor Theodosius I asked his advice twice, in 388 and in 392.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: Psalm 42 is fitting for this feast day. Like John of Egypt, the writer of this Psalm had a longing for God as intense as that of a deer searching for water during a drought. Such a longing is intent on a single priority — finding and being refreshed by life-giving water.
It would be helpful for us today to really come to terms with a simply spiritual truth that this Psalm focuses in on our longings reveal our priorities. John of Egypt and countless others in the cloud of witnesses longed for God and not for lesser things. The soul was restless in its desire for fellowship with God. Is that true for us? Do we yearn for it to the point it drives us, or do we think it would be “nice” to have handy? The priority is fellowship with God. Let’s be honest today and examine our hearts longings and list what they reveal about our priorities. Do they reveal the place God truly holds in your hearts and mind?
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Lord, God, all that I am and everything I do comes from you, so I give it back to you. May I live only to do your will? May all my efforts have their beginning in you, and may they be brought to completion by your will.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE “The soul must long for God in order to be set aflame by God’s love; but if the soul cannot yet feel this longing, then it must long for the longing. To long for the longing is also from God.”— Meister Eckhart.
Lenten Discipline – Taking a page from St. John of Egypt take time today to be completely set apart from people and meditate on Psalm 42. Write a journal on the experience and use it as something to build upon in the days ahead.
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