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MEDITATION:

Written by Albert Edward Day (1884-1973), Methodist pastor and leader of the Disciplined Order of Christ movement. This is an excerpt from his book “The Captivating Presence.”

I came to a new understanding why Jesus passed up the religious establishment of his day, the economically secure, the socially prestigious, and sought out the poor, the outcast, the sinner, the broken, the sick, the lonely. He felt, as we so often do not feel, their sorrow. He was acquainted, as we too seldom are, with their grief. On Calvary he died of a broken heart. But that heart was broken long before Black Friday, by the desolation of the common people. “In all their afflictions he was afflicted.” Most of the time we are not. We seem to have quite a different conception of life. We avoid as much as possible the unpleasant. We shun the suffering of others. We shrink from any burdens except those which life itself inescapably thrusts upon us. We seek arduously the wealth and power that will enable us to secure ourselves against the possibility of being involved with another’s affliction. Lazarus sometimes makes his way to our doorstep. We toss him a coin and go on our way. We give our charities but we do not give ourselves. We build our charitable institutions but we do not build ourselves into other’s lives.

PRAYER:

Written by Thomas More (1478-1535), an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councilor to Henry VIII.

Almighty God, take from me all vainglorious minds, all appetites of my own praise, all envy, covetise, gluttony, sloth, and lechery, all wrathful affections, all appetite of revenging, all desire or delight of other folks’ harm, all pleasure in provoking any person to wrath and anger, all delight of exprobation or insultation against any persons in their affliction and calamity. And give me, good Lord, a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender, and pitiful mind, with all my works, and all my words, and all my thoughts, to have a taste of Your Holy, Blessed Spirit. Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent charity, a love to the good Lord incomparable above the love to myself; and that I love nothing to Your displeasure, but everything in an order to You. Take from me, good Lord, this lukewarm fashion, or rather keycold manner of meditation, and this dullness in praying unto You. And give me warmth, delight and quickness in thinking upon You. Amen.