My Lenten goal:
to "re-set" my soul prior to Easter's celebration
In my research on Lent, and the history of it, I bumped into this following prayer written by St. Ephrem the Syrian, sometime during his brief life in the 4th Century. Not surprisingly, it is titled, The Lenten Prayer.
Icon of St. Ephrem
The striking part of what I found was NOT that it was penned specifically for Lent.
What grabbed me was the word prayer.
As I began reading through the prayer, my eyes glanced to the sidebar of the page I landed on (linked below) a quote. Here's what the quote said:
"When I prayed I was new," wrote a great theologian of Christian antiquity, "but when I stopped praying I became old."
Prayer is the way to renewal and spiritual life. Prayer is aliveness to God...
What better way to accomplish my stated goal, than to engage in heart-rending prayer.
Then I read the prayer with deeper intent.
Because Lent includes developing an internal rightness-of-spirit leading up to Easter's Resurrection-Victory-Dance, this prayer hits the mark. This morning it has become my heart's cry.
There are times, when my own prayers seem to fall short of what I truly want to say. That's often when I find age-old-prayers from Saints-who've-gone-before to speak the words for me. This is one.
May it be for you, today.
The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian:
O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity (integrity),
humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors
and not to judge my brother,
for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen
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