Sunday, March 17, 2013

fifth Sunday in Lent

"Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
         Then you will be known as rebuilder of walls
                   and restorer of homes."
                                                         Isaiah 58:12

I read the familiar words in Isaiah 58 once again.  Once again I prayed for the Holy Spirit to enlighten me more fully in its truths.
                             
     This is the kind of fast He desires: 

to free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
 to lighten the burden;
  to remove chains that bind;
   to feed the hungry;
    to give clothes to those who need them;
     to not hide from relatives that need help;
       to remove the heavy yoke of oppression;
         to help those in trouble;
          to keep the Sabbath day holy.


"Lord, if You kept a record of our (my) sins,
      who, O Lord, could ever survive?
 But You offer forgiveness,
     that we (I) might learn to fear You."
                                                             Psalm 130:3-4

once again ...and even more frozen whiteness

  There is a wilder solitude in winter  When every sense is pricked alive and keen.         --May Sarton ("The House in Winter" A ...