Help me keep your word and never see death. 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 31 of our Lenten Challenge with this opening prayer:
Help me keep your word, Lord. You made a covenant with your people. Jesus, you promised us that if we keep your word we will never see death, never taste it. You have given us your word, and you consummated it with your Blood. By your death and resurrection, you have promised those who love you eternal life in heaven. Lord, help me keep your word by surrendering my will to you. AMEN.
Thursday of the 5th Week of Lent (Liturgical Year II)
Help Me Keep your Word and Never See Death
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Join me in a prayerful reflection and meditation for your Lenten journey with Christ to Jerusalem.
Help Me Keep your Word and Never See Death
Opening Prayer
Enter into the prayer of silence before the Lord
Lord Jesus Christ,
I believe you are truly here and present to me right now. I desire to be present to you. Lord help me keep your word every day so that I may one day have eternal life with you in heaven. Speak to my heart today and show me how I might keep your word in my heart. I know that you love me with infinite love; you suffered and died for me so that I might never see death or taste death. I choose to surrender my will so that you live in me.
Lord, help me keep your word through all my actions. Please send me your Spirit so that I can worship you with a pure heart and without distraction. Help me to separate myself from all worldly attachments and spend these 15 minutes reflecting on keeping your word in my heart. Jesus have pity on me. You know all my weaknesses and that I can’t elevate my heart or my mind 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. Thank you, Lord, for every consolation, desolation, time of silence, difficult trial, and temptation of the evil one. I understand that everything that happens in my life is by your holy will, whether it be your divine providence or your permissive will due to my sin and negligence.
Please humble me as I walk with you toward Jerusalem. Help me carry my cross well and do so with great love in my heart for you.
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.
Now we will contemplate the Lord by listening to him speak to us in the Gospels. Jesus is continuing his debate with the Jewish authorities in the temple area near the treasury….
Help Me Keep your Word and Never See Death
Before Abraham Came to Be, I AM
John 8:51-59
Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
(So) the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.
So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
Reflection:
Let us meditate on what Jesus means when he says, “Whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
What does it mean to ‘keep my word’? Ask yourself, am I living a Sacramental life of grace? Do I strive to put God first in my life, setting aside time every day for prayer? Do I worship God with genuine love for him each week? Do I have gratitude for all the blessings he has given me? Do I obey Church teachings?
We all struggle to remain faithful to God, to do what’s right every single day, while avoiding the temptation to sin against God and others. God has made a covenant with us, promising eternal life for those who believe in Jesus and who love God with all their hearts.
What does Jesus mean when he says ‘never see death’? What life awaits us after we die here on earth? Where do we go? What will it be like? Take a moment to ask the Lord questions from your heart.
Now let’s listen to the second part of Jesus’ teaching, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
Jesus is telling us he is God in this passage; he always was and he is. He said this in response to the Jews question about how he could have seen Abraham. There were fourteen generations between Abraham and Jesus. By calling himself “I Am“, which is the divine name God first reveals to Moses in Exodus 3:14, Jesus knew they would become angry. This is because they did not recognize his divinity and they considered his words a form of blasphemy.
Do you believe that Jesus is “I Am”? In what ways has Jesus revealed himself to you in your life? Have you responded to him with your own covenant of love? If not, what can you do to be more faithful to him and to never see death?
Take a moment to ask Jesus questions from your heart. What is the burden on your heart? Be honest with Jesus and tell him your fears. Has he shown you something? You may want to write it down.
Let us continue our mental prayer with a meditation from Saint Faustina Kowalska:
Help Me Keep your Word and Never See Death
Happiness of Eternal Life in Heaven
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (Diary, Paragraphs 777-780)
Today I was in heaven, in spirit, and I saw its inconceivable beauties and the happiness that awaits us after death. I saw how all creatures give ceaseless praise and glory to God. I saw how great is happiness in God, which spreads to all creatures, making them happy; and then all the glory and praise which springs from this happiness returns to its source; and they enter into the depths of God, contemplating the inner life of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, whom they will never comprehend or fathom.
This source of happiness is unchanging in its essence, but it is always new, gushing forth happiness for all creatures. Now I understand Saint Paul, who said, “Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
And God has given me to understand that there is but one thing that is of infinite value in His eyes, and that is love of God; love, love and once again, love; and nothing can compare with a single act of pure love of God. Oh, with what inconceivable favors God gifts a soul that loves Him sincerely! Oh, how happy is the soul who already here on earth enjoys His special favors! And of such are the little and humble souls.
The sight of this great majesty of God, which I came to understand more profoundly and which is worshiped by the heavenly spirits according to their degree of grace and the hierarchies into which they are divided, did not cause my soul to be stricken with terror or fear; no, no, not at all! My soul was filled with peace and love, and the more I come to know the greatness of God, the more joyful I become that He is as He is. And I rejoice immensely in His greatness and am delighted that I am so little because, since I am little, He carries me in His arms and holds me close to His Heart.
O my God, how I pity those people who do not believe in eternal life; how I pray for them that a ray of mercy would envelop them too, and that God would clasp them to His fatherly bosom.
Reflection:
Contemplate what it would be like to experience more fully the love of God in heaven as St. Faustina describes it. Think about the beautiful gift of peace and joy that St. Faustina describes.
Lord, I humbly ask you to give me the desire to be with you in heaven. Please increase in me the love I need in my heart for you so that I can overcome all obstacles to grace. Jesus help me keep your word and never see death so that I can be with you in heaven one day. AMEN.
Next, let us meditate for a moment on the words of Genesis 17. Listen to what God promised Abraham. Reread this passage a second time. Then take a moment to speak to Jesus. What do you want to tell him?
Help Me Keep your Word and Never See Death
God's Covenant
Genesis 17:3-9
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.”
God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.
Reflection:
A covenant is a promise that cannot be broken.
Our Father in heaven is faithful and has given us a promise of eternal life in him as long as we can love him and do his will. We must ascent to his will for us and live according to his ways. As Saint Faustina says, we have to love, love, and once again, love him. It is by this love that we will desire to do his will for our lives. When we love we grow in faith and we trust that our beloved wants only our good.
Jesus, please help me to make pure acts of love for you. I want to love you sincerely for your own sake and not for the favors that you give. Please help me to keep my promises to you. Fill me with your grace so that I can be a better person and keep your word every day. AMEN.
Take a moment to be with the Lord. Take 1-3 minutes to listen for his response to your heartfelt prayer.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 32 Mental Prayer Meditation
Rescue Me Lord From the Powerful Snares of the Wicked
Rescue me Lord from the powerful snares of the wicked. I pray to you in distress. My rock, my shield, and my stronghold, help me.