Rt. Rev. Bruce MacPherson

From Bishop MacPherson’s response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advent letter: 

O God,

Each of us is haunted by questions we have addressed to you. Like Elijah we meet with silence. Sometimes it is a silence in which we discern your answer; sometimes the silence is an absence that yields no reassurance. We ask that in your time you would make plain the answers to our questions. We ask the faith and patience to wait until you reveal them to us. Lord Jesus, grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; for these things we pray in your precious name. Amen.

[Drawn and adapted from the Book of Common Prayer and All the Seasons of Mercy]

Solanus Casey

Casey was a 20th century Roman Catholic priest in America.

In the crosses of life that come to us, Jesus offers us opportunities to help him redeem the world.  Let us profit by his generosity.

Prayer for a Holy Lent

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

Luke 18:13

Father in Heaven,

May we come before you with downcast eyes.  May our hearts become heavy as we remember our sin.  May we see our meager attempts at righteousness as so much straw.  Father we know that your law and commandments are not a path to salvation, but rather your way of showing us how we would live if we were in fact perfectly faithful to you.  Your law and commandments shine a bright light on us, Lord, exposing the awful, sinful inclinations of our hearts.  We have rebelled against you.  We have taken our seat on your throne.  We are prideful and stiff-necked.  We trust ourselves instead of trusting you.  We lack faith.

Father, during this most holy season of Lent,  may we accept the invitation to deeper faith that you always grant when we are convicted of our sin.  Hear our cries.  Lord we believe.  Help us in our unbelief.  Come, Holy Spirit.  Convict our timid souls.   Amen.

Ash Wednesday thought from the Northern Plains

The Plains are not forgiving. Anything that is shallow – the easy optimism of a homesteader; the false hope that denies geography, climate, history; the tree whose roots don’t reach ground water – will dry up and blow away.

Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography

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Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Liturgy of Ash Wednesday

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When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”

Amos 7:2

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The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit:

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51, appointed for Ash Wednesday

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What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God— through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:24-25

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Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21, appointed for Ash Wednesday