Today we share in a traditional Seder with the Jewish students. Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday - the day on which we complete the confession which began on Ash Wednesday. Tomorrow, we hear the absolution which has been implied but not spoken during the season of Lent.
The reading appointed for today aided me in my journey. I decided to share it with you, in its entirety. Forgive me for this job of "cut and paste," but I think Monrad's words are powerful.
"It is very important that we are without pretense when we come before God's countenance All adornment, all excuses, must be cast aside. We must not give ourselves out as anything other than we are. Wares often pass in trade under false names in order to win easier sales; but it is still more common that the human heart houses cravings to which it gives false names in order to justify love for them. Deceit is called cleverness greed is called concern for spouse and children; hatred and anger are called zeal for truth and justice. No sinful desire is found in the human heart that does not sail under a false flag and steal a name that does not belong to it. It is a great step forward when we are able to give the right name to all that lives within us. It is one of the blessings of prayer that calls upon us for serious self-examination and brings into the light of God's countenance that which steals around in our souls, half conscious, part truth, part falsehood. Everything that lives within us should be laid bare in prayer."
Ditlev Gothard Monrad (1811-1887), taken from "The World of Prayer"
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