I know you are faithful and keep your promises. 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 12 of this Lenten prayer journey with this opening prayer :
Trust and Believe…
Lord,
I know you love me intimately. Please help me prepare my heart as I begin these 15 minutes of mental prayer with you. Lord, let me be present to you and aware of the movements of the Holy Spirit in my heart, receiving the grace you give with faithfulness and love in my heart. Lord, help me visualize you in my presence right now as I strive to complete this Lenten reflection. Let me fully contemplate the readings as I ponder what it means to know you are faithful and keep your promises. I want to follow you all the way to Calvary, Jesus, and I want to do it with my whole heart.
AMEN.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)
I Know You are Faithful and Keep Your Promises
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 12 of our Lenten journey as we continue traveling with Jesus in our hearts and minds toward Calvary by meditating on the daily Mass readings for today: the First Reading, the Psalms, and the Gospel Reading. As you make your self-reflection, feel free to journal your responses to the Lord. This meditation is suited for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, but you can also pray this meditation while looking at a Crucifix or an image of Jesus that you have.
I Know You are Faithful and Keep Your Promises
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Start with Love…
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 I might pick up my cross and follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. Help me turn my heart more fully to God so that I might better understand God’s love for me.
Breathe on me as I spend these next 15 minutes fixated on today’s Mass readings. Holy Spirit, 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 Jesus with love and gratitude, in a prayer of silent contemplation.
Make a Movie in Your Mind…
Now we will contemplate the First Reading. We are going to hear a message from God given to a court prophet named Nathan, who is a close advisor for King David. Let’s set the scene. Chapter 7 begins with David enjoying his new palace, but he has an uneasy feeling knowing the Ark of the Covenant is still being housed in a tent. He tells Nathan, who replies, “Whatever is in your heart go and do, for the LORD is with with you.” What we are about to read is the message the LORD tells Nathan to give to David. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind as you read. Imagine yourself physically there, in the new palace of King David. In your mind, find yourself with Nathan, perhaps he is looking out the window at the tent with the Ark of the Covenant as he hears the voice of the LORD begin to speak…
I Know You are Faithful and Keep Your Promises
Do Not Let Me Turn Away My Heart, Lord
2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16
That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in? And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements; Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'”
Reflection:
Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the First Reading.
Did you envision yourself listening to the voice of God speaking to Nathan? The heir the LORD speaks of is Solomon, the son of David, who builds his Temple in all its splendor. But who else might the LORD also be speaking of, who is a son to him?
Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…
Be Completely Real…
Take a moment and think about the LORD and how he sees all, things not yet come to pass. Notice how he speaks of Solomon, but also of Jesus. He is almighty and everlasting. Take a moment to ponder this and how the LORD might see you and your descendants and a way you cannot comprehend. Consider your worries, cares, wants and desires. Recognize that the LORD is faithful and he keeps his promises, even if you do not see it in your lifetime, you can trust in the LORD to be faithful and just.
Can you see why it is important you submit to his ways, even when you don’t understand? Think about ways you have not done this in the past. What do you worry about? What are you afraid of? Talk to the LORD from your heart about these things.
Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
In the next part we will read a prayer of praise from Psalms. Pray this from your heart, contemplating the wisdom of the LORD and his eternal glory. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you pray the words with a faithful heart of love.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm:
I Know You are Faithful and Keep Your Promises
Let Me Meditate on the Law of the Lord
Psalms 89:2-5, 27, 29
The favors of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness.
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”
“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.”
Visualize Christ…
Next, we will visit with Saint Joseph, husband of Mary. Take a moment to close your eyes and picture him looking at you. You may want to imagine a favorite image of Saint Joseph coming alive and speaking to you. In this way you will be able to visualize Saint Joseph in a personal way and this will help you understand how much he loves you and feel connected to him when you pray for his intercession.
Now we are going to listen to Matthew tell us how Joseph was faithful to God and kept his promise to Mary. Put yourself in this scene much like you did in the First Reading. You are in the home of Joseph, and he is troubled, worried about his wife, Mary, who he discovered is with child. You are with him as he struggles to fall asleep, as he ruminates, knowing the child couldn’t be his. He is thinking like a human, with limited understanding. Read this passage twice, the second time more slowly, pausing on a word or phrase that speaks to your heart. Then prayerfully speak to the LORD about what stirred your heart. What do you want to tell God?
I Know You are Faithful and Keep Your Promises
Let Me Deny Myself and Take up My Cross
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Are You Listening?
Contemplate how David and Joseph were faithful to God and desired to please him. Consider the faithfulness of God, who has plans that we can’t fully understand, and sometimes take generations to be fulfilled. Remember what you said to the LORD when you prayed from your heart today, and speak to him. Tell the LORD, “I know you are faithful and you keep your promises.”
Take a moment now to pray your own psalm of praise, acting with faithfulness to God and trusting in his providence for you and your descendants. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in remaining faithful to God, believing in his promises and letting go of all worry. Finally, promise to love God and heed his voice this Lent, the voice he speaks to you through the words of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 13 Lenten Meditation
I Turn My Heart To You and Away from Evil
“I Turn My Heart to You and Away From Evil” – Join us in our 13th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I