Week Eleven of ordinary time

by Noah McLaren

He set us in the world that we may flourish,

That his belovéd world might live through us.

We chose instead that all of this should perish

And turned his every blessing into a curse. 

And now he gives himself, as life and light,

That we might choose in him to set things right.

- excerpt from “So Loved the World” by Malcolm Guite

On the Sabbath Day we step outside of the cycles that govern our lives throughout the other six. The labor to which we’re yoked — we step away from it. Our many-layered mantle of roles and responsibility — we remove it. There is a truth that is higher than these things. In our nakedness, even from our very birth, we have been claimed and cared for by God Almighty. 

For you, O Lord, are my hope,    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

    it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. 
(Psalm 71:5-6)

Let this prayer from St. Ignatius call you back to God today. Leave the cycles that need to be left, and return to this one, holy and true. It is radical. It is our calling. God gave it all to us; let us give it all back to God.

Suscipe [Receive]

a prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola

Take, Lord, 

receive all my liberty, my memory, 

my understanding, my whole will, 

all that I have and all that I possess. 

You gave it all to me, Lord; I give it all back to you. 

Do with it as you will, according to your good pleasure. 

Give me your love and your grace; 

for with this I have all that I need.