Isaiah 44:22;Psalm 51:1
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
What of Today’s Verse…
This Staircase has been trodden by myriads of penitent souls. Few of God’s elect saints have passed through life without having painfully climbed its stairs. On the wall opposite the pallet in the cell where St. Augustine died, this first verse was set out where his eyes could constantly see it.
The Psalmist uses three words for the Forgiveness he craves–that his transgressions might be blotted out, like the legends scribbled over the ancient Gospels of the palimpsest; that his iniquity should be washed away, as the soil from linen; and that all traces of his past sin should be forgiven and cleansed away, even as leprosy in the case of Naaman was so obliterated that his flesh became as a little child. How tenderly Jesus responded to the agonized cry of the leper for cleansing: “I will, be thou clean!”
How wonderfully these petitions of the soul burdened with the sense of sin are answered! Do you ask to be purged with hyssop? Listen to the voice of God saying: “I even I, am He that blotted out thy transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” He purges us with the Blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. Do you ask to be made white as snow? “These are they who have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” Do you ask to hear joy and gladness? “It is meeting to make merry and be glad, for this, my child was lost and is found.” Do you desire to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God? Give Him your broken and contrite heart; think not that He will despise it! The fragrance of a broken box of alabaster fills Heaven and earth to this day.
Let us Pray:
Let there be no doubt with any one of us that Thou dost forgive, even to the uttermost, all those who draw nigh in penitence to Thee; that so, those of us who are sad because sinful, may have this day the joy of the Lord. Amen.
Words of Wisdom
Healing Presence
I am healed in body, mind and soul.
Healing comes in many forms and in many ways. Some wounds heal quickly and visibly, like the physical healing of a scratch or a burn. Other wounds may take more time to heal. A broken heart, a troubled life or a dampened spirit requires a greater depth of healing–healing of my body, mind and soul.
Every need for healing is an invitation to turn within to God for guidance and direction. As I enter into the silence to meditate and pray, I connect with the Source of both my physical and spiritual healing. I am guided to the ways of strength and wholeness. I receive the most vital and lasting form of health: the healing of my soul.
For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal.–Jeremiah 30:17
