# Letting go Day 6 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Take, Lord, and receive all that I am and have. You’ve given it all to me; I give it all back to you. Do with me as you want. Just give me your love and your grace and that’s enough. ~St. Ignatius* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 130 #### My Soul Waits for the Lord #### A Song of Ascents. *130 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice!Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.* *5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.* #### Scripture for the Day: 1 John 2:15-17 #### Do Not Love the World *15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.* #### Reading for Reflection: *I worry too much. Autumn trees ask me not to worry. They, like Jesus, suggest trust rather than worry. So often in autumn I want to go lean my head against a tree and ask what it feels like to lose so much, to be so empty, so detached, to take off one’s shoes that well, and then simply to stand and wait for God’s refilling. It sounds so simple, so easy. It isn’t easy. But it is possible.* ​ *I think I’ve met one person in my lifetime who was truly empty. I didn’t ask her what it felt like, but I remember a quiet joy that seemed to permeate her spirit, and she looked free.* ​ *We autumn strugglers must try hard not to wear discouragement as a cloak if we can’t wear enough emptiness to make us free. It takes a long time to get as far as even wanting to be empty.* ​ *Our hearts are hungering for the Sacrament of Letting Go. Once we discover that we already possess enough grace to let go, trust begins to form in the center of who we are. Then we can take off our shoes and stand empty and vulnerable, eager to receive God’s next gift. (Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: I Lift My Hands *I lift my hands to the coming King* *To the great I Am, to you I sing* *For you’re the One that reigns within my heart* *I will serve no foreign gods,* *nor any other treasure* *For you are my heart’s desire,* *your Spirit without measure* *Unto you I will bring my sacrifice* ### Closing Prayer: *Lord God, be the delight of our hearts, even as we are the delight of yours. And help us to leave behind all thoughts, actions, and attitudes that do not reflect the beauty of that delight. May everything else pale in comparison with the passion we have to be truly yours. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)*