WEDNESDAY, April 21 (Anselm)

Psalm 38. Truly, I am on the verge of falling, and my pain is always with me.

It is not uncommon for us to edit our prayers. That usually happens when we are feeling inadequate, when we have violated God's expectations of us in some conspicuous way. Having sinned, we are too ashamed to bring before God the anguish and shame we feel. We suspect that the very admission of our guilt will be an offense to the divine sensibilities.

Of course that is absurd. God knows. God knows our every frailty, our every fault.

To read the Psalms is to be reminded, over and over, of God's steady willingness to hear us out, to hear our shame and our regret as much as to hear of our triumphs and our joys. "O Lord, you know all my desires, and my sighing is not hidden from you," says the author of Psalm 38. That psalmist also describes a life that "by reason of my foolishness" is "utterly bowed down and prostrate." The psalmist flings the story of his life upon the divine mercy, knowing that God knows everything, believing that God accepts and affirms even as God knows all that can be known.

This is a great encouragement to us. God invites our every prayer, our every anguish, our every fear, our every shame. God invites all of that, refusing to forsake us. (1955)

PRAY for the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast (Prov. IV, USA)

Ps 38 * 119:25-48; Exodus 19:16-25; Col 1:15-23; Matt 3:13-17

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