Psalm 53

I am reading an engaging book entitled, "Toward God, The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer," written by Michael Casey, an Australian Cistercian monk and prior. I find much reassurance in this comment about prayer: "There is no perfect prayer - except insofar as it corresponds to one's real situation and represents a total turning toward God. The ecstatic prayer of a mystic is in no way superior to the agonized stumbling of a sinner weighed down with guilt and deformed by lifetime of estrangement from God; both are real, both are 'successful.' Both remain imperfect, too, because perfection does not belong in this life; it is to be expected in the next." 

   

We can and should come to God just as we are.  If God accepts us, and indeed created us, why do we struggle so with simply being ourselves?  It is our honest prayers that will lead us to God's healing presence, and this is one of the lessons of the psalms. Regardless if we pray from our anger, our mourning, a profound sense of failure, or euphoric joy, if our prayers are honest, we will experience God's love because it is always there for us. This is so good to know and take to heart. 

   

"Those lacking in understanding may say, 

'There is no Divine Presence.'

They have not yet opened their hearts 

to the Blessed One, 

to the Beloved, who dwells within. 

 

The Holy Spirit seeks out hearts 

that have been broken, 

Ever ready to bless them with 

strength and new life."   

 

Psalm 53, abridged 

Psalms for Praying, 

Nan C. Merrill