Reading: I Samuel 16:1-13
“… the
LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks on the heart.” 1
Samuel 16:7
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing as the season
of Lent begins. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” we sing in the liturgy at
the Great Entrance of the Eucharist. A clean heart. The heart is where the
whole person comes together – body, spirit, mind. What is intended by the mind
takes up residence in the body and spirit. What is done with the body takes
residence in the spirit and the mind. All are interwoven. In the teachings of
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, heard through this Epiphany season, Jesus
spoke over and over again about intention. How crucial are the intentions of
the heart! Other people see our actions which may seem just, but God sees the
motivations, the intentions, the energy behind our acts. In T.S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Becket struggles with the possibility of martyrdom, and
whether he might actually be desiring the glory that comes with it:
“Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
God of
light, awaken us to see the glory of life in you. Amen
- Place
on your altar a picture of someone experiencing hardship. Pray for them.
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