March 13/Third Saturday of Lent
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. ~ Ps 51.4
Anyone who has been fortunate enough to live with a two-year-old knows that the drive towards doing-it-yourself begins early in life. Pulling a mismatched shirt and shorts out of her drawer, the intransigent toddler insists on dressing herself for pre-school. Grabbing the hand-held shower head in the bathtub, the determined tyke demands to rinse the shampoo out of his own fine locks. As we grow up, we carry on in like fashion, wanting desperately to take the reins (or the wheel) ourselves. Now of course, the notion that “if it is to be, it is up to me” works well in many areas of our lives as we seek to make the world better, or simply to get things done. It is less applicable, however, when it comes to setting things right with God. Acknowledging our sins is critical, and so is making ourselves accountable to God (and to those we’ve hurt). But as the grammar of today’s verse teaches us, absolution remains firmly in God’s hands. In a 1958 letter, novelist Flannery O’Connor reflected on the traditional Catholic belief ‘that man has fallen and that he is only perfectible by God’s grace, not by his own unaided efforts.” Millennia earlier, the poet pleads with his Lord to erase, through grace, his transgressions. Knowing that God alone can forgive, he hands the shower head over so that he might be scrubbed clean (and the Hebrew verbs for washing and cleansing imply vigorous action, not gentle rinsing!). If we truly repent, God will make our hearts new, and our spirits right, and send us back out into the world, strengthened, restored, and possibly even a bit wiser, to try again.
All-merciful LORD, Cleanse my heart, wash my spirit, and renew my soul through your steadfast love. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031321.cfm
To hear the Choir of King’s College (Cambridge) sing Samuel Wesley’s “Wash Me Throughly,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=192TzmFAEQs
