Pray to Know the Heart of God in Yours

"In the Mist," Elizabeth Chapman

Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from far away.

3 You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord, you know it completely.

5 You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

“God sustains every soul and dwells in it substantially, even though it be that of the greatest sinner in the world, and this union is natural.”

St. John of the Cross.

Let us come in prayer. Let us come asking that our hearts be opened to their most intrinsic truth, that their truest nature is in most merciful and tenderly intimacy with the Indweller whose knowledge of them exists far beyond any they might claim for themselves. Let us pray to know these hearts of ours, as woeful and wanting, as distant and deceiving as they are. Pray to search them with tender mercy, and know them in such intimacy of compassion as they are already known; pray for the grace of coming to know them in that blessed Union which sustains and in which they dwell. Finally, let us pray to come to know all other hearts as we are praying to know our own. Amen.

Indwelling

Psalm 90

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

2Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3You turn us back to dust,

and say, "Turn back, you mortals."

4 For a thousand years in your sight

are like yesterday when it is past,

or like a watch in the night.

…….

12 So teach us to count our days

that we may gain a wise heart.

……..

Come in stillness and in solitude, in these hectic days;

come to the dwelling place of God.

Return your heart of prayer

to its most ancient home.

Seek there the hope of all creation;

the strength of eternity;

and peace which endures.

Know in your heart’s returning home;

safe shelter in the frailty of its truth

held within antiquity’s gentle arms.

Pray there that your heart of prayer becomes,

the dwelling place of the Lord.

Amen.