# Becoming day 5 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *God of our creation and re-creation, you who are constantly at work to shape me in the wholeness of Christ, you know the hardness of the structures of my being that resist your shaping touch. You know the deep inner rigidities of my being that reject your changing grace. By your grace soften my hardness and rigidity; help me to become pliable in your hands. Even as I pray this, may there be a melting of my innate resistance to your transforming love. Amen. (Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 37 #### He Will Not Forsake His Saints [a] Of David. *37 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.[b]4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.* *5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.* *10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.* *14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright;15 their sword shall enter their own heart,and their bows shall be broken.16 Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.* *18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless,and their heritage will remain forever; 19 they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.20 But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.* *21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,but the righteous is generous and gives; 22 for those blessed by the Lord[c] shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. 23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; 24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,for the Lord upholds his hand.* *25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 26 He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.27 Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. 28 For the Lord loves justice;he will not forsake his saints.They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.* *29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.* *30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.31 The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.32 The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.33 The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way,and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,spreading himself like a green laurel tree.[d]36 But he passed away,[e] and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.* *37 Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,because they take refuge in him.* #### Scripture for the Day: Jeremiah 18:1-6 #### The Potter and the Clay *18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.* *5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.* #### Reading for Reflection: Souls are like wax waiting for a seal. By themselves they have no special identity. Their destiny is to be softened and prepared in this life, by God’s will, to receive, at their death, the seal of their own degree of likeness to God in Christ. And this is what it means, among other things, to be judged by Christ. The wax that has melted in God’s will can easily receive the stamp of its identity, the truth of what it was meant to be. But the wax that is hard and dry and brittle and without love will not take the seal: for the hard seal, descending upon it, grinds it to powder. Therefore if you spend your life trying to escape from the heat of the fire that is meant to soften and prepare you to become your true self, and if you try to keep your substance from melting in the fire—as if your true identity were to be hard wax—the seal will fall upon you at last and crush you. You will not be able to take your own true name and countenance, and you will be destroyed by the event that was meant to be your fulfillment. (New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton) #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: May the Mind of Christ, My Savior *May the mind of Christ, my Savior,* *Live in me from day to day,* *By His love and power controlling* *All I do and say.* *May the Word of God dwell richly* *In my heart from hour to hour,* *So that all may see I triumph* *Only through His power.* *May the peace of God, my Father,* *Rule my life in everything.* *That I may be calm to comfort* *Sick and sorrowing.* *May the love of Jesus fill me,* *As the waters fill the sea;* *Him exalting, self-abasing* *This is victory.* ### Closing Prayer: *Father, forgive us when we think that life is more about what we are doing than about who we are becoming. Help us to remember that more than anything else you want our hearts. Allow us to give them to you fully, that we might receive yours in return; changing us more into the likeness your Son Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen. (JLB)*