I Love to do your will for your law is in my 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 17 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 love and obedience. 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 love to do your will and know your law is in my heart. I want to follow you all the way to Calvary, Jesus, and I want to do it with my whole heart.
AMEN.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent (Liturgical Year I)
I Love to Do Your Will for Your Law is In My Heart
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Let’s begin Day 17 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 Love to Do Your Will for Your Law is In My Heart
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 traveling to the land of Judah to hear a prophecy given to King Ahaz through Isaiah. After the death of King Solomon, the united kingdom of Israel was divided. We know the ten northern tribes formed the Kingdom of Israel, and the remaining tribes in the south became the Kingdom of Judah under King Ahaz. During Ahaz’s reign, the kingdoms of Northern Israel and Syria threatened Judah, so Ahaz was fearful. He was likely fearful because he was not faithful to God and did wicked things as king. I want you to realize that even after God gives Ahaz this prophecy, he still built altars to pagan gods and burned his sons as a sacrifice on one of those altars [2 Kings 16]. Slowly imagine this scene in your mind as you read and imagine yourself physically there in the scene. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?
I Love to Do Your Will for Your Law is In My Heart
A Sign of God's Faithfulness is God with Us
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”
Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. which means “God is with us!”
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 speak to King Ahaz through Isaiah? Did this message sound differently, knowing that King Ahaz would later betray the Lord and offer his children as sacrifices to a false pagan god? Do you wonder how God can love us and remain faithful to his promises even when we are wicked and forsake him? What emotion does it create in your heart? Could you feel the Lord searching the depths of your heart as you discover his goodness? Does this make you want to do his will and love his law?
Paul tells us in Romans 5:8 that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The LORD knew that Ahaz would do wicked things and betray his goodness, but he still kept his promises, and it was through the lineage of King Ahaz that Christ was born to the Virgin Mary [Matthew 1:13-15].
Now let’s personalize this passage from our First Reading…
Be Completely Real…
Take a moment and think about your own life. Do you remember when we read Isaiah 55:11? God said his word will not return to him void, that it would accomplish what he desires, and prosper where he sends it?
Have you tested God? Have you betrayed his goodness in the past? Are you stuck in a pattern of thought that keeps you in fear? Say to the LORD, I love to do your will and I want you to help me keep your law in my heart.
Tell him you want to fulfill your vocation according to his will, and you believe that you will accomplish what he desires and prosper where he sends you. Make an act of faith right now. Consider what you believe the LORD is calling you to do and speak to him from your heart for a few moments.
Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
If the Holy Spirit nudges you about a person, or a situation, a habitual sin, or a talent God has given, ask him to direct your path so that you can be obedient to him.
In the next part we will read a prayer of petition from Psalms. Pray this with love and obedience.
Let us continue our mental prayer with today’s Responsorial Psalm:
I Love to Do Your Will for Your Law is In My Heart
Let Me Love the Law of the Lord
Psalms 40:7--11
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
Visualize Christ…
Next, try to put yourself in the presence of Mary by visualizing her kneeling before the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Take a moment to close your eyes and picture her. You may want to imagine a favorite image of Mary coming alive and speaking. In this way you will be able to visualize Mary in a personal way and this will help you understand how she must have felt hearing the word being spoken over her and knowing her mission in life was to bring forth the Messiah that God had promised Ahaz and all his descendants.
Put yourself in this scene much like you did in the First Reading. Then prayerfully speak to the LORD about what stirred your heart. What do you notice about Mary’s love and obedience in this passage?
I Love to Do Your Will for Your Law is In My Heart
The Lord is With Me and Nothing is Impossible for Him
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
Are You Listening?
Contemplate Jesus looking at you with a deep loving gaze. Imagine he speaks to you, “Love my will for you, listen to my law and keep it in your heart. Trust in me and be faithful, even when put to the test.”
Take a moment now to speak from your heart about your desire love to do his will and knowing his law and keeping it in your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in how you can do this for the remaining days of Lent.
Finally, promise to love God’s law and heed his voice this week, the voice he speaks to you through the words of Scripture and the Holy Spirit. You may want to journal about the promises you made today and reflect back on them at the end of the week.
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 18 Lenten Meditation
Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom
“Obedience Makes Us Greatest in Your Kingdom” – Join us in our 18th Lenten reflection for Liturgical Year I