Fifth Week of Lent

When my feeble life is o’er, time for me will be no more; guide me gently, safely o’er, to thy kingdom shore, to thy shore.

This song is a standard in traditional New Orleans funeral processions, where it is played jazz-style as people accompany the deceased from the church to the cemetery. The song is played as a dirge with snare and brass, sometimes picking up tempo as the funeral event turns into a celebration of life. In the context of a funeral, the lyrics call to mind St. Paul’s words that we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7).
This is good walking music, so it is an appropriate tune for us at this point in our Lenten journey with Holy Week approaching. We are on the way together—the way Jesus walked, which leads to the Cross. This is a funeral line, a procession. And it is a hopeful one.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, Lord of the dead and the living, our only hope is found in sharing your Cross. Grant me deeper faith so I can follow you more closely. Lord of Glory, help me carry my crosses with hope.

Ponder Today
With the Cross of Good Friday approaching, what final preparations do I need to be ready to enter the mystery of Jesus’s Passion and Death?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, Lord of the dead and the living, your kingdom is not of this world. Help me to walk in your way, especially when your love calls me to depart from the logic of our culture. Lord of Glory, guide me when it is difficult to see your path.

Fifth Week of Lent

Thro’ this world of toil and snares, if I falter, Lord, who cares? Who with me my burden shares? None but thee, dear Lord, none but thee.

Along with Martha and Mary, Lazarus was one of Jesus’s best friends. When Lazarus died, Jesus saw the pain and grief of this family and proclaimed, “This illness is not to end in death” (Jn 11:4).
Jesus cares for each of us with the same compassion. When we face our own limitations and when we face the end of our lives—he sees our sorrow and proclaims to us that we will not end in death. The companionship of our friends and family is necessary for a full life, but even our closest loved ones cannot walk with us through death. Only Jesus can see
us through the end. With him at our side sharing our burdens, we find hope and strength.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, our consolation, you came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Increase my hope so I may find security in your love even in the midst of loss and suffering. Dear Lord, shine in my darkness.

Ponder Today
How can I share some of the hope I receive from my relationship with Jesus? Who is someone in my life in need of companionship through a dark time? How can I help?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, our consolation, you tell us that when we walk with you, our burdens are light. Stay near me through this world of toil and snares, and pick me up when I falter. Dear Lord, share my burdens.

Fifth Week of Lent

I am weak but thou art strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to thee.

Over the past five weeks, we’ve been working to entrust our lives to God. The self-denial of fasting helps us identify and confront our weaknesses, and it increases our will to step in a different direction. We want to look at our faults with honesty not because we can fix them on our own but because this is how we hand them over to God and turn to him to make us whole.
This is the mystery of our salvation: it is precisely in our weaknesses that God acts in our lives to save us. Within our brokenness is an invitation to rely on God alone. On our own, we are weak, but when we turn that weakness over to God, it brings us closer to God.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, our Savior, you teach us how your self-emptying way leads us to
union with our Father and others. I hand over my weaknesses, trusting
that your power to heal is greater than my ability to fix my life. Jesus, our
strength, keep me from all wrong and make me whole.

Ponder Today
What area of my life is in most need of the Lord’s strength? How can I turn to him when I need him?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, our Savior, you walk with us through every circumstance of life even the valley of death—to lead us to new life. Stay near me and bring me closer to the Father, day by day. Jesus, our strength, walk with me.

Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Anonymous

I am weak but thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
as I walk, let me walk close to thee.
Refrain:
Just a closer walk with thee,
grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
daily walking close to thee,
let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Thro’ this world of toil and snares,
if I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but thee, dear Lord, none but thee. Refrain
When my feeble life is o’er,
time for me will be no more;
guide me gently, safely o’er
to thy kingdom shore, to thy shore. Refrain

Fifth Week of Lent

O breathe on me, O breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life for all eternity.

Throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as a life-giving wind. God created the world and then bestowed on humanity the gift of life by breathing into us (see Genesis 2:7). After his Resurrection, Jesus shared the gift of the Holy Spirit with his disciples by breathing on them (see John 20:22). The very word spirit comes from the Hebrew word ruah, which means “breath,” “air,” or “wind.”
With this hymn, we invite God to breathe on us in the same way and to fill us with his life. The song we’re praying with this week even mimics the pacing of breathing with its slow rising and falling. With this song in our hearts, we can imagine God blowing new life into us, so that like small embers, our hearts begin to glow hot, and we can ask God to burst our spirits into flames of his mercy that burn away all impurities.

Prayer for Morning
Holy Spirit, our guide, you breathe into us the gift of divine life. Infuse my life with greater faith, hope, and love and form me into a temple where you dwell deeply. Fire of God’s love, burn in me.

Ponder Today
What parts of my life need to burn away? What pieces do I need God to enflame?

Prayer for Evening
Holy Spirit, our guide, you pour out your gifts with abundance and bring us to completion. Cleanse me and make me fragrant with your holiness. Fire of God’s love, make me new.

Fifth Week of Lent

O breathe on me, O breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure.

Next week, at a special celebration called the Chrism Mass, each diocesan bishop will consecrate the sacred chrism, which will be used for Baptisms and Confirmations throughout his diocese during the coming year. This sacred oil will be used to anoint the heads of catechumens after their baptism and of those being confirmed at the Easter Vigil. At the Chrism Mass, the bishop pours perfume into a large vat of oil, asks God to pour into it the strength of the Holy Spirit, and then breathes over it.
Chrism is a sacred sign of our salvation and the new life we receive at Baptism. You can hear the consonance between chrism and Christ—the anointed one. Just as Christ was anointed to bring good news, so are we anointed to participate in his life and saving mission. During Lent, we return to Baptism, where the pattern of his life becomes ours, which allows us to love as he loves: self-sacrificially and unconditionally.

Prayer for Morning

Spirit of love, you are the advocate sent by Jesus, the anointed one, to help us live as God’s children. Spirit of new life, strengthen me today.

Ponder Today

What is one way I will have an opportunity to love as Christ loves today?

Prayer for Evening

Spirit of love, you emboldened Jesus’s disciples to share his good news. Clothe me with your strength and transform my way of living and loving. Spirit of new life, pour into me.

Fifth Week of Lent

O breathe on me, O breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love the things you love, and do what you would do.

On our journey to the Cross, we contemplate the raising of Lazarus this week. John tells us that Jesus came so we “might have life and have it more abundantly” (10:10), and his mission reaches a high point in this miracle. Lazarus becomes a paradigm for us. Like him, we all experience different versions of sickness and death. We can all imagine what it feels like to be in a stifling tomb—trapped in cold and darkness, feeling lifeless.
Jesus tells us he is the resurrection and the life (see John 11:25). He comes not just to show us the way to new life, or give us new life, but to be our life. Whenever we encounter him even now in these moments of prayer—we experience divine life. Lent is our time to clear away distractions so we can be more responsive to our relationships with Jesus, for he is standing outside whatever tombs we are in, calling us to come out.

Prayer for Morning

Jesus, the Resurrection, you came to give us abundant life. Be with me so that the joys and sorrows I experience today can be an opportunity to turn to you. Jesus, my life, call me out of darkness.

Ponder Today

How have my Lenten practices deepened my experience of the new life of Jesus? How do I want to approach these last two weeks before Easter?

Prayer for Evening

Jesus, the Resurrection, you came to inaugurate a new kingdom of life and love. Deepen my faith, especially when our world seems so distant from your reign. Jesus, my life, sustain me.

Fifth Week of Lent

O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God
Author: Edwin Hatch

O breathe on me, O breath of God, fill me with life anew,
that I may love the things you love, and do what you would do.

O breathe on me, O breath of God, until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure

O breathe on me, O breath of God, so shall I never die,
but live with you the perfect life for all eternity.

Fourth Week of Lent

Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come, ’tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

A  good way to grow in our trust in God is to call to mind the ways he has already been present to us. God is consistent: what he has done in the past, he will do again.
We often can’t see the dangers, toils, and snares God is leading us through until we’ve already come through them. As we climb toward God’s love this Lent, it’s worth pausing to look back over the landscape we’ve covered; from this perspective, we can see how God has been guiding our steps, even though we may have felt as if we were wandering at the time. Seeing God’s goodness gives us confidence that whatever obstacles we face can be overcome with his grace.

Prayer for Morning

God of providence, you give us what we need and sustain us with your love. Grant me confidence in your ever-present love and relieve my fear and anxiety. God of goodness, I trust you.

Ponder Today

What is the most significant way God has shaped my life? Is there someone with whom I can share this good news?

Prayer for Evening

God of providence, you promise good to us. Help me to let go of my doubt and find security in my identity as your beloved. God of goodness, lead me home.

Fourth Week of Lent

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine; but God, who called me here below, will be forever mine.

As we progress in our effort to confront and turn away from sin this Lent,
we start to see how our selfishness blinds us. When our ego sits at the center
of our universe, it distorts our vision because we interpret everything that happens as being either in accord with our will or against it. This orientation is a recipe for discontent because it does not align with reality; the world does not revolve around us.
Grace is the gift of God’s own life, and it reorients us to see him as the source of life. With God at the center, we see ourselves and the world in the light of his truth and love. Seeing rightly requires humility; we have to get smaller to fit into the world as it is. But this makes us feel at home in God, which allows us to respond with praise and gratitude.

Prayer for Morning

God of light, you hold all creation in being. Help me recognize your presence and action in every circumstance of my life. God of life, I surrender to you.

Ponder Today

What part of my life am I trying to control as though it depended only on me? How can I invite God to provide for me?

Prayer for Evening

God of light, without you, we are consigned to the darkness of our own selfishness. Call me out of my self-centeredness and into your generosity and abundance. God of life, let me walk in your light.