Lord, give me a humble contrite heart. If you are new to mental prayer, we invite you to visit our page on the ways of mental prayer, Don’t know how to pray to God, to learn more.
We begin Day 2 of this Lenten prayer challenge with this opening prayer:
TRUST AND BELIEVE...
Lord,
Help me have a humble contrite heart. Please, Lord, take away my pride. I often act on my intuition without surrendering to your divine providence. I place too much importance on my own thoughts and desires, which lead me to sin. Let me be humble. Let me draw closer to you and trust in you in all things.
You took the road to death knowing that the people who praised you would turn against you in scorn and treat you as a criminal with no dignity. You journeyed toward death with great humility and love, never counting the cost. You did this so that I could share in the divine love of the Holy Trinity and gain eternal life. Jesus, let me carry my cross with a humble contrite heart as I follow You all the way to Jerusalem.
Lord, I am choosing to take up my cross and humbly follow you all the way to Calvary and I want to do it with a humble contrite heart.
AMEN.
Friday after Ash Wednesday (Liturgical Year II)
Jesus, Please Give me a Humble Contrite Heart
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 2 of our Lenten journey!
Today we will meditate on the beautiful humble heart of Christ. Let us reflect together on our own need for a humble contrite heart that is open to his divine touch. What does it mean to be truly humble? How can I offer a truly contrite heart? Let’s meditate on these things in the presence of Christ and offer ourselves to God in prayer.
Jesus, Please Give me a Humble Contrite Heart
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
TRUST AND BELIEVE...
Holy Spirit,
I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Guide my heart and mind and show me how to have a humble contrite heart.
I know that you want me to freely surrender to your divine will for my life. Many times I hold on to things and I lack true humility. I acknowledge this sin and all the ways I have chosen myself over You.
I give you my heart today. I want a humble contrite heart that hears your voice and follows you. Please overshadow me so that I can worship You without distraction.
Look at me with mercy and have pity on me. You know all my weaknesses and that I can’t humble my heart or focus without Your help. Please give me the grace right now to pray my mental prayer well and to love You in a way that is pleasing to You. I want to grow to love You more perfectly.
Breath on me as I spend these next 15 minutes fixated on today’s Mass readings. Help me pray with humility, honesty, love and affection. I want to grow in virtue and holiness.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that you love me and that everything in my life happens by God’s holy will, whether it be divine providence or God’s permissive will due to my sin and negligence.
Please humble me as I walk with Jesus toward Calvary.
AMEN.
Say Nothing Just Take Him In
Spend 1-3 minutes in silence gazing at the Lord with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.
Make a Movie in Your Mind...
Now we will contemplate the first reading. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind as you read. Take your time. Pause over a moment that really tugs your heart. Reread the passage again, this time imagine yourself physically there in the scene. What do you hear? Feel? Sense?
Give me a Humble Contrite Heart
he will say, "Here I AM"
Isaiah 58:1-9
Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
Reflection:
Take a moment to reflect on the first reading.
Did you think about the need for fasting, and how God sees it? What does he want from us?
Isaiah says, “releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”
Be Completely Real...
Did this passage make you think about where your heart is when you fast? What do you think God is saying to you about fasting for Lent? Are you focused on turning outward and loving others, or focused on yourself when you fast?
Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Gospel:
Visualize Christ...
Now we will contemplate the Lord by listening to him speak to us in the Gospels. We are entering into the home of Matthew, a tax collector living in Capernaum, a fishing and farming town on the northwest shore of the sea of Galilee. Enter into the scene and imagine yourself there. Jesus has just invited Matthew to leave his post as a tax collector to become a disciple, and Matthew has agreed. They are traveling to Matthew’s house for a meal.
Enter into the home with Jesus, Matthew, and the disciples. It is made of basalt-stone, a fine, dense, black volcanic rock. Matthew’s work as a tax collector has afforded him a comfortable home with a central courtyard for entertaining and many rooms inside. As Matthew prepares the table with food, we see the disciples of John the Baptist approaching….
Give me a Humble Contrite Heart
The Bridegroom will be Taken Away
Matthew 9:14-15
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Let us meditate on what Jesus means when he says, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
How do you relate to these words of our Lord? The disciples of John the Baptist are familiar with fasting, and so they are confused by Jesus’ disciples.. Does this passage remind you of a special moment of grace in your life? Has there been a time where you felt you were being spiritually fed by Christ?
If you’ve ever communicated with Christ in the Mass and experienced a consolation, you clearly understand what the Lord meant here. Sometimes Jesus comes to us in such a tender way in holy Communion that we are deeply moved by miraculous divine grace – changed by the touch of God in an instant.
Have you ever found yourself moved to tears at Communion after feeling a very strong divine visitation from Jesus? This verse speaks to my heart about the great love Christ has for us when we come to him in the Mass. He is our bridegroom and he is with us, feeding us, at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Take a moment to reflect on your experiences with Christ and a special time when you felt his presence most intimately.
Now listen to the second part of Jesus’ teaching, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and they will fast.”
Have you ever felt abandoned by God? Was there a time when you prayed earnestly but you felt the answer to your prayer wasn’t what you wanted or desired? Did you blame God and turn away from him, or did you wait for the desolation to pass and for the consolation to return?
Take a moment to ask Jesus questions from your heart…. Are you in a time of consolation or is it a period of desolation?
Are you in this moment due to sin you have committed but have not repented of? Is the Lord calling you to humility and contrition? Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
Wait on the Lord.
Ask him to reveal to you areas of your life that need repentance. Ask him to help you recognize where in your heart you hold on to pride. What is the burden on your heart? Be honest with Jesus and tell him everything that troubles you.
Ask the Lord, “How do my pride and unrepentance hurt my relationship with you, Lord?”
Linger a moment and wait for his response. Has he shown you something? You may want to write it down.
Let us continue our mental prayer with a meditation from Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, one of the great Italian Missionaries of the eighteenth century and author of the book Humility of Heart.
Give me a Humble Contrite Heart
The Humble Man's Nature
By Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo
The humble man’s nature is to be sincere, simple, and straightforward. He is of lowly bearing, and lowly too has he kept his human caprices and his pride. He is not hard and haughty, but gentle, reverent, and obedient.
And you?
Ah, try to realize how backward you are in the school of Jesus Christ!
He came to teach you one single lesson, that of humility: “Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.” (Matthew 11:29).
And hitherto how have you profited by this lesson?
You will reply that many of these practices seem difficult to you, but say to yourself: “The impure find it difficult to live in chastity; the avaricious find it difficult to give alms; and in the same way, the proud man finds it difficult to practice humility.”
It is not that humility is difficult in itself, but it is your pride that makes it difficult.
Are You Listening?
Contemplate Jesus as meek and humble of heart. Meditate on his life. How did Jesus keep himself hidden? How did he treat sinners? How did he love his disciples? His enemies? How did he reproach?
Do you treat others with the same sincerity of heart? Are you simple-minded and straightforward with others? Do you manipulate others to prove a point? Are you hard to deal with? Do others find you haughty?
Jesus was gentle and obedient, surrendering himself to the Father even unto death.
Are you obedient to God in all things? If not, in what area of your life do you fail to surrender to his will? Why? Take a few minutes to talk to the Lord about your need to conform your life to the will of God and grow in humility.
You have a choice. Will you take him up on his request? Will you learn of him? Will you study his way, imitate him? Grow in humility and love, shedding your pride and following his will even if it means carrying a heavy cross?
Imagine Jesus looking at you earnestly right now. You are walking with him on the journey to Jerusalem. He is gazing at you with deep intensity. You see a deep knowing love in his eyes. It penetrates your soul. Jesus smiles and says, “Learn of me.”
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 3 Mental Prayer Meditation
Have Mercy on Me Lord for I have Sinned
In today’s Lenten reflection we repent and say, “I have sinned” and move ourselves toward greater holiness by leaving behind sinful habits and following Christ more closely.
One Response
Beautiful Lenten Reflections. I am Reading & praying. Talking to my JESUS. Not easy to follow but am trying. A lot of distractions in my MIND. Please PRAY for me
I find sometimes my CROSS is too HEAVY but i know its GOD’S WILL. I dont PRAY Much. Hope can Pray more. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE LENTEN REFLECTION. GOD BLESS YOU & YOURS.❤️