Choosing Life (Chapter 9) (Monday in the fourth week of Lent)

PAUSE
As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly to recenter my scattered senses upon the presence of God.

(pause)
I pray Psalm 27: 1, repeating the words slowly, several times:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?”

REFLECT
Bible: I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life. (Deut. 30: 19-20)

Book passage: When I asked Sammy to marry me, it was a terrifying moment. I knew that she could say one single syllable word and dash all my dreams, or say another and make them all come true. My future hung on her choice. Had I decided to avoid the risk of disappointment, grabbing her by the hair with one hand while beating my chest in triumph with the other and declaring, “You shall be mine,” then my actions would not have been loving. Love, by its very nature, always permits choice, and choice permits terrifying risks. (p. 123)

ASK
Ask myself: Sometimes I wish that God didn’t trust me with quite so much choice. In what practical ways might I use my free will to “choose life” today, both for myself and those I meet?

Ask the Lord: I ask you, Lord, for the gift of heightened awareness today. Sensitize me to discern in each moment its extraordinary potential for life-giving words and deeds of love.

YIELD
A prayer of joyful surrender attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus.
Amen.*

*This prayer was a favorite of Mother Teresa, to whom it is often attributed and she encouraged her Missionaries of Charity to use it after Mass. It is unclear, however, as to its source. Parts of the second half are drawn from Cardinal Newman’s meditation Jesus the Light of the Soul (Meditations and Devotions Part III, VII,3).