Lent Day 31 | 40 to Life

The below reflection was provided by the Diocese of Southern Virginia:

Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Almighty God our heavenly Father, renew in us the gifts of your mercy; increase our faith, strengthen our hope, enlighten our understanding, widen our charity, and make us ready to serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

This is a prayer of anticipation. We are almost to Holy Week. Almost to the Passion Gospel, to walking with Jesus through those last hours. We need to be ready. The gifts of mercy – the gifts of empathy and compassion – are flagging, but they are needed now more than ever. Faith, hope, understanding, charity. Love. We needed these gifts two millennia ago, and two years ago, and two months ago. We will never stop needing them. What a comfort that we can ask God to renew them, and that God will hear us, that God will make us ready. What a gift of love!

Lately we have seen much that is the opposite of empathy and compassion. Yet we have the gifts of mercy in us. Are we ever-ready to exercise these gifts? Are we ready to admit that we need God’s help to increase them? Are we ready to put ourselves in God’s hands, and to allow God to help us grow?

We are almost there – almost there – and God is and will be with us every step of the way. Always.

The Diocesan Lenten Reflections come from clergy and laity in each of our nine convocations. The reflections are based on the collect appointed for each day in Lent. Today's collect and the associated daily readings can be found HERE.