March 17/Third Tuesday of Lent
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me. ~ Ps 25.4-5
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single (or married) man in possession of a car, and in want of directions, will not ask for guidance. Of course, now that we have a bright electronic voice chirping the route from our smartphones, the need to pull over to a gas station or stop to ask a police officer has become negligible. But still. Whether it is directions or instructions or simply the way to the restroom, something in all of us, male and female alike, resists asking for help. We go to great lengths to avoid looking as if we don’t know where we’re going or what we’re doing (as one of my favorite English teachers used to tell us, “If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, sing it out, and no one will know the difference!”). Many of us can keep us this pretense for a long time, but sooner or later we are going to have to admit that we don’t know where we are going. That is the moment of humility, when we turn to God and say, “What now?” And that is the moment, too, of spiritual growth, when we are able to admit our confusion and error. As an Order of the Holy Cross priest I admire once observed to me, “We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by getting it right. .. .When I give workshops and presentations I always talk about ‘Worst Practices.’ It is our worst practices that are our best teachers, just like our faults and failings and sins are our best teachers.” Asking God for guidance is an acknowledgement of those failings and sins, and sets us on the path towards God’s truth. That is the direction we need to take!
Loving and wise God, Humbly I offer myself to your direction, for without you I am lost; show me the way. Amen.
To hear William Byrd’s “Lord, Make Me to Know,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1S_ialcydU
For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031720.cfm
