O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore Thee,
a heart to delight in Thee,
to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake, Amen
St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)
We all want things around us to change - our finances, our work, our material needs, those who are in positions of authority. We also want others around us to change. We want our co-workers to be nicer, or more efficient, or less annoying. We want our children's teachers to be more attuned to the needs of our children. We want more from our religious leaders. We all could create a list, quickly, of the things we want God to change. How many of us would remember to include: "Me?"
St. Ambrose asks that God would take away his heart of stone. Think of the unyielding nature of rock! Unmoved by the plight of people around it. Apathetic to the call to be different. Rock is not going to change. St. Ambrose asks that God replace that hardness with flesh. Flesh that feels compassion and is open to transformation. It is easy to say the words - change me, God. It is harder to accept that we are the ones that need to change. And that transformation is not easy. Becoming someone new means dying to what we were before. Dying to our self serving ways. Dying to our arrogance and need to be right. Dying to our desire to be like the stone: unyielding, uncaring, unchanging.
Think about this prayer of St. Ambrose. Take it to heart and offer it up to God. And ask God to help you in this change by the kindling of the Holy Spirit once more in your heart.
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