Prayer for Self-Dying (John 12:20-33): 29 March 2009 (Fifth Sunday of Lent)
Dear Lord,
Today you speak once again about the grain of wheat that needs to die before it can bear fruit. It’s a neat metaphor, but what it means–what it requires–is far from neat. As is often the case, you are referring to yourself as well and the example you have lived, as we shall soon commemorate this coming Holy Week. You are that grain of wheat that had to die to bear the fruits in us.
Lord, today I pray that you grant me the desire to die to myself. Truth be told, I am allergic to the very thought of it. In a world of self-glorification and in this era of feel-good spiritualities, sacrifices aren’t exactly in fashion. It’s so tough to deprive one’s self of pleasures one secretly believes he deserves, and it’s getting more and more difficult to delay gratification these days.
However, I know by looking at your sacrifice on the cross: The only road to Easter is Calvary. There is no going around it.
Please grant that I will be able to allow the mysteries of your suffering and death affect me and change me. Amen.
Note: Watch this modern-day depiction of Christ’s–and the Father’s–sacrifice. It’s a painful parable called “The Bridge.”