"A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me." -PS 51:12-13
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
Have you ever noticed that there are some things that, no matter how hard you try to improve them, no matter how much resolve you can muster, eventually you fall back into the same negative patterns. It can happen with sin, and does thanks to the fall in the garden and our subsequent concupiscence. But it need not apply just to the things that imperil our immortal soul.
It's like a diet. I know I should only eat healthy food and I know I need to get off my, you know what and exercise and I may manage to start and possibly hold it together for a few days or dare I say, a few weeks even. Eventually though, I want a large Italian sub, with french fries and a chocolate milk to wash it down. The temptation is there, and, poof, I give in.
Food is one thing, but it's the unhealthy diet of sin and negativity that is most dangerous for us. It's that fear that we will fail; that part of our brain that only hears the voices telling us we're not good enough. Sometimes it's even our own voice inside telling us the same thing.
Do you really think that's what God wants for us? Does he want us to be fearfully sitting alone in a room not taking the chance on touching others' lives? Or do you think He might have something more planned for us?
So the words of the psalmist ring on, asking God to fulfill in us what we know we can be with His grace:
"A clean heart create for me, O God"
Lord please help me to be stronger against temptation to sin. Give me a clean heart that desires only to do your will for me, positively and enthusiastically spreading your good news.
"A steadfast spirit renew within me"
Give me the courage to be the bold, amazing, wonder of creation that you made me. The persistence to be the best version of myself, the man you created me to be!
"Cast me not out from your presence"
Please draw me nearer to you Lord so that I can feel your love for me burning and radiate that glow to others.
"and your Holy Spirit take not from me."
Give me the wisdom to see your plan for me and the courage to pursue it. When I am feeling weak, or beaten, or not good enough, sustain me with the power of your Holy Spirit so that I may become unstoppable!
Take time today to listen to God's plans for you and ask for the courage to fearlessly set out on that journey.
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." -St. Catherine of Sienna
God bless,
P.D.O.
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