# Wilderness Day 5 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Lord, The house of my soul is narrow; enlarge it that you may enter in. It is ruinous, O repair it! It displeases Your sight. I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it, to whom shall I cry but to you? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare Your servant from strange sins. ~St. Augustine of Hippo* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 78 #### Tell the Coming Generation #### A Maskil[a] of Asaph. *78 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.* *5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation,a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.9 The Ephraimites, armed with[b] the bow, turned back on the day of battle. 10 They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.* *11 They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.12 In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.16 He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.* *17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”* *21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, 22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. 23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; 27 he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; 28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. 29 And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.* *30 But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,31 the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.* *32 In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.33 So he made their days vanish like[c] a breath,[d] and their years in terror.34 When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.35 They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.36 But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.38 Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them;he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.* *39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!41 They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.42 They did not remember his power[e] or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,43 when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.44 He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.* *46 He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.47 He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.48 He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.49 He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.50 He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.* *51 He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.52 Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.54 And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.55 He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.* *56 Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,57 but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.59 When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.60 He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,61 and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.62 He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.63 Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song.64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.66 And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.* *67 He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.* #### Scripture for the Day: Matthew 11:7-19 *7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man[a] dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet?[b] Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,* *“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’* *11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,[c] and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear,[d] let him hear.* *16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,* *17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’* *18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”[e]* #### Reading for Reflection: *What more could you have given me than the gift of your very self?...You are a fire always burning but never consuming; you are a fire consuming in your heart all the soul’s selfish love [self-love]; you are a fire lifting all chill and giving light….without this light I would be walking in the dark…You willed to bend down to my need. (The Dialogue by Catherine of Sienna)* *The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound. ~Fr. Thomas Keating* #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah *Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,* *Pilgrim through this barren land.* *I am weak, but Thou art mighty;* *Hold me with Thy powerful hand.* *Bread of heaven,* *Feed me now and evermore;* *Bread of heaven,* *Feed me now and evermore.* *Open now the crystal fountain,* *Whence the healing waters flow;* *Let the fire and cloudy pillar* *Lead me all my journey through.* *Strong Deliverer,* *Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.* *Strong Deliverer,* *Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.* *When I tread the verge of Jordan,* *Bid my anxious fears subside;* *Death of death, and hell's destruction,* *Land me safe on Canaan's side.* *Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee;* *Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee.* *Ending:* *Land me safe on Canaan's side* *Bid my anxious fears, bid my anxious fears* *Land me safe on Canaan's side* *Bid my anxious fears, bid my anxious fears, goodbye.* ### Closing Prayer: *Lord I so want to make all of me ready and attentive and available to you. Please help me to clarify and purify my intentions. I have so many contradictory desires. I get preoccupied with things that don’t really matter or last.* ​ *I know that if I give You my heart whatever I do will follow my new heart. In all that I am today...all that I try to do...all my encounters, reflections, even the frustrations and failings and especially in this time of prayer...in all of this...may I place my life in Your hands. Lord I am Yours...make of me what you will. ~Ignatius of Loyola*