THURSDAY, December 9

Psalm 37:19-42. I have been young and now I am old.

I like being older, and I surprise myself by saying it.  One is supposed to shove aging into the closet and  lock the door. I like this stage of my life, not so much because I can sleep late if I wish or because I can play with my grandchildren and then send them home to their parents. It’s because of what my friends and I talk about. Twenty years ago we would have discussed the fate of the university football team and whose child got into which college. Today we will talk about death, prayer, the mystery of God. Such subjects would have seemed morbid or too personal then. Now they seem immediate and inviting and worthy of sharing.

In the sharing we honor one another’s humanity and cherish the time we have together. And, in the process, God’s precious gift of friendship assumes a sweet intensity we might not otherwise have known. (2006) 

The Providence of God dictates to each time of life its own spiritual regimen. With the approach of old age, our bodily ­capacities decrease and the conditions favorable to a concentrated interior life increase: there is less activity and more time for prayers…there is less distraction, and more attention is given to our inner world…Blessed is he who, in the construction of his life, gradually replaces corruptible building materials by fireproof and indestructible ones.

 —Alexander Elchaninov 

PRAY for the Diocese of Kobe (Japan)

Ps 37:1-18 * 37:19-42; Isaiah 7:1-9;  2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Luke 22:1-13

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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