Lord, you cleanse me white as snow if I am willing to obey. 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 11 of our Lenten Challenge with this opening prayer:
TRUST AND BELIEVE...
Jesus,
I believe you want to give me the grace to go deeper in prayer this Lent. Help me to be present to you so that I’ll pray the next 15 minutes with my heart fully open to grace.
Lord you cleanse me with your holy love; I’m not cleansed by my good works or my penances. When you cleanse me you convert my heart because your holy love draws me closer to you. I am so grateful to you for that.
The gentle loving mercy you show me each day has made me turn away from selfishness and has drawn me to your light and love. Thank you for patiently cleansing me of my sins and remaking me white as snow. I am full of gratitude. I desire this cleansing, because I want to reflect your light and love. I am clay in your hands.
Please give me the grace I need as I strive to complete these 40 days of daily Lenten reflections. Let me humbly follow you all the way to Calvary, as you cleanse me white as snow and I reflect your light and love in the world.
AMEN.
Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent (Liturgical Year II)
Lord You Cleanse Me White as Snow
A Reflection for Prayerful Meditation
Join me in a prayerful meditation for your Lenten journey on the cleansing power of love.
Lord You Cleanse Me White as Snow
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. Lord you cleanse me of all my sins and make me white as snow. You have restored me by your holy love.
Let me love you with a clean and pure heart. I want to be white as snow, white as wool, a tabernacle of the Most Holy Trinity. I want to bring the light of your holy love to the world. I want others to know the saving power of your love. I want them to feel what I feel, that redemption and forgiveness is possible, that your love is everlasting. That you forgive when we repent and blot out our transgressions.
Holy Spirit, 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. Breath 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 holy love for God and others.
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 with an open heart full of love.
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 at your heart. Reread the passage again, this time imagine yourself physically there in the scene. What do you hear? See? Feel? Sense?
Lord You Cleanse Me White as Snow
Warning from The Mouth of the Lord
Isaiah 1:10,16-20
Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah!
Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.
If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!
Reflection:
Let us take a moment to reflect on the message in the first reading.
What part of this passage from Isaiah sticks out to you?
“Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD.”
This passage speaks of the gentle patience of the Lord. It sounds Fatherly, and tender.
What came to mind when you read the sentence: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.”
Now let’s personalize this passage from our first reading…
How have you experienced the tenderness of the Lord? What does the Lord’s voice sound like to you in your conscience when you seek him?
Let’s Pray:
Lord, let me always hear you as a loving and tender Father who is patient and kind and forgiving of my sins. Let me trust in your loving providence and be eager to obey you in all things. AMEN.
Be Completely Real...
Let the Holy Spirit guide your mind…
Do you image God as a loving Father, or are you having a hard time seeing him in this way due to past experiences in your life?
Ask the Lord to help you image him as a loving, tender, and patient Father who cares for your every need and is completely trustworthy.
Open your heart in a prayer of silence and tell the Lord you want to receive that love. Then place your hand on your heart and imagine the Lord touching your hand over your heart. Feel the energy of that loving embrace from God flood your heart and say thank you.
Now we will contemplate the Lord by listening to him speak to us in the Gospels:
Visualize Christ
Today we are traveling with Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. It is a Tuesday morning, about 48 hours before he is arrested and falsely charged.
You enter the Court of Gentiles, the outermost and largest Temple Court area, with Jesus and the disciples. This court area is full of covered, shaded colonnades along the wall, filled with money changers, and animal merchants. It is a bustling, market-like open area where foreigners and women are allowed to gather. Jesus indicates to you and the disciples that he is about to speak, so you circle him in the courtyard as the crowd gathers to listen.
Among the crowd you recognize several scribes huddled together in fine robes with furrowed brows and exhibiting disapproving body language. They are making meticulous, deliberate hand movements and this troubles you. Yet you look at Jesus and see he is full of peace. He looks confident and ready to speak.
You also see visibly agitated Pharisees. They are dressed in modest traditional white tunics, with prominent tassels in their corners, reminding you that the commandments must be followed. They do not welcome the appearance of Jesus or his disciples and you begin to sense the tension your presence here has caused. The Pharisees are wearing phylacteries on their foreheads and left arms, these are small, black leather, hand-crafted boxes holding torah passages written on parchment, because it is the time of morning prayer, and these boxes are a public indication of their purity, righteousness, and public dedication to regimented daily morning prayer. Their presence intimidates you, but Jesus is at peace.
You sense that the scribes and Pharisees may be monitoring this situation with contempt as you catch a few of them looking at you with cold glares. As soon as they realize Jesus is about to teach, they begin opposing him with disdainful arm gestures toward each other and the crowd….
Lord You Cleanse Me White as Snow
Desire Humility over the Place of Honor
Matthew 23:1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Reflection:
Let us meditate on what Jesus means when he says, “whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Let’s Pray:
Jesus, make me humble and keep me from having the desire to be praised and honored and have authority over others. Let me observe all your teachings, Lord, and quietly imitate your holy love, never desiring to be acknowledged by anyone for the good that I do. Keep my heart pure; Lord you cleanse me by your holy love. AMEN.
In what way does this invitation from Jesus captivate your heart? He is revealing the great battle to overcome spiritual pride. He is challenging you to imitate him, in thought, word, and deed, he who is meek and humble of heart.
Take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to practice more humility.
Give the Holy Spirit time to respond.
Has he shown you something? You may want to write it down.
Let us continue our mental prayer with a meditation from St. Augustine.
Lord You Cleanse Me White as Snow
Humility Exalts Us
by St. Augustine of Hippo
There is something in humility which, strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debases it.
This seems, indeed, to be contradictory, that loftiness should debase and lowliness exalt. But pious humility enables us to submit to what is above us and nothing is more exalted above us than God; and therefore humility, by making us subject to God, exalts us.
Are You Listening?
Imagine Jesus in your mind right now. Picture him standing beside a river, off at a small distance from you. He knows all that you need and the temptations you struggle with every day. He gazes at you with eyes that pierce your heart and read your soul. Then with a kind and tender Fatherly voice of authority he says, “I have washed you clean.”
What will you say to him in response?
Pray the next Lenten Meditation
Day 12 Mental Prayer Meditation
Lord You Redeem me and set me Free from Snares
Lord you redeem me and set me free from snares through your Passion, death, and resurrection. Help me imitate you with sacrificial love.