Experiencing God 234 - A Christian Response

The next time you have to awkwardly explain at a party or office gathering why you go to church where church is a jaw dropping absurdity–here are some ways to explain it, honestly and sincerely. 

1.  I believe that God loves me and you and everybody exactly as they are, unconditionally.

2. Yet, God loves us too much to leave us that way–I am a Christian because I believe that God is always pushing me to grow in love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self.

3. I am a Christian, because I believe that my God actually chose to be human like us–and live the beautiful, painful, messy life of a human just like us–solely to love us better.

4. I am a Christian, because I believe that God rose from the dead in order to prove how much we are loved.

5. I am a Christian, because I believe that my God gives me the tools–and the command–to spread the story of resurrection and love to those who need it most.

6. I am a Christian, because I believe that I–and all people–are invited to find healing from all pain, sorrow, and failure at God’s table during communion.

7. I am a Christian because I believe that through Jesus, God declared that death, hate and oppression are never the last word.

8. I am a Christian, because I believe that, in our very busy world, my Christian faith offers me a time to slow down and take my relationships seriously.

9. I am a Christian, because I believe that, in our divided and fearful world, my Christian faith offers me a way to live into connection, belonging, and trust.

10. I am a Christian, because I believe that racism, and sexism, and all the isms that separate us from seeing each other as full humans, are resistances to God's love, and in faith, we are called to stand up against them.

Experiencing God 233 The True Vine

" I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are pruned by means of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing

Why does Jesus refer to Himself as the true vine?

In Canada, we do not have a lot of experience with grape vines, vineyards, and the art of growing grapes.  But in Israel, everyone is familiar with the agriculture of growing grapes.  This is true today as well as in New and Old Testament times.  In fact, we can find many references in these ancient scriptures that speak of vines, pruning and grapes.  Isaiah spoke of the people of Israel as being the vineyard of the Lord.  Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel as His choice vine.  And when Israel as a nation went through a time of disintegration, it was described by the prophets as a degenerate and wild vine yielding sour grapes.  

When Jesus began to use the imagery of the vine, He was drawing on imagery that His listeners could immediately understand.  They would know that in order for a vine to produce an abundance of grapes, a skilled vine dresser would have to remove all those branches that were not fruit-bearing so that the growth of the plant would be concentrated on the healthy branches that would bare good fruit. Jesus, very skillfully, takes what is familiar as imagery  for His spiritual teaching. 

In his teaching, God is symbolically the vine dresser and Jesus Himself is the vine representing Israel at its best.  Why?  Because He has been properly prepared by the Father.  As a result of this preparing or pruning, the fruits of God's Kingdom are made possible and visible through Him. Jesus is the True Vine, the "I AM" of the Father.

His instructions to the disciples and to us: "You are pruned by means of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I remain in you."  Along with Jesus, we also are the vine, and often a vine in need pruning as Jesus Himself was pruned.  How are we pruned?  By means of His word, the Gospel. We follow the Master who has gone before us and prepared a way for us. If we remain connected to the True Vine, Christ, we also become part of that vine, the "I Am" of the Father. We become agents of Christ to reveal to the world the splendor of God's Kingdom in the here and now.  But cut off from the True Vine, the I AM of the Father, we can do nothing. 

In order to become the "I Am" of the Father, what are the dead or defective branches that need to be pruned.  First we have to be pruned of the excess noise in our lives so that we may learn to listen.  Everything else is described in the Gospels.  Read the temptations Jesus experienced while in the dessert often referred to as the world, the flesh, and the evil one.  They are fleshed out in the parable stories of the person who built his house on sand, the Good Samaritan, the man who used his life to build new barns to hold more and more possessions, Lazarus and the rich man, and many others. 
What are the signs or the fruit of remaining connected to the True Vine?  St. Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Galatians: "Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control."  These are the qualities we exhibit as we remain connected to the vine.  As expressed in Ephesians, "We become God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus, to live the good live, as from the beginning, He intended us to live it."

The fruit of the Spirit bears witness to who we are before God, and gives glory to God who is all around us, with us, in us; a part of our everyday experience. 

Experiencing God 232 What Is Contemplation

As Mother Theresa was beginning to become known for her charitable work in India, she gained the attention of the press. During an interview, she was questioned about prayer. The reporter asked her: You must pray often to God. Certainly, she answered. And what is it that you say to God? She answered: Usually, I say nothing. I just sit there to listen. The reported then asked: "So then, what does God say to you?" Mother Theresa answered: God says nothing to me. God just listens; and if you don’t understand what I mean by this, please don’t ask me, because I can’t explain it.

Brother Lawrence was a seventeenth century lay brother who lived out his life in a Carmelite Monastery in Paris. He is most know for his book which is now a Christian classic called “The Practice of the Presence of God.” When speaking about prayer, Brother Lawrence wrote: “In prayer, I make it my business only to persevere in His Holy presence, wherein I keep myself, by a simple attention, and a general fond regard for God, which I call an actual presence of God.”

In our Christian faith tradition, we have many kinds of prayers. During the course of this hour, we will be experiencing other types of prayer: The beautiful music is prayer. We have a short period of silence, and of course we end with intercessory prayer, praying for the needs of others. Another type of prayer, which I suspect you are all familiar with, is called lecto divina. This prayer includes a reading a word or line from scripture; reflecting on that word or line for a moment, and then pondering the words to see how they speak to us. And there are many more. But one of the best kept secrets in the Catholic Church today is the prayer called “contemplation”. 

 The two stories I started with about Mother Theresa and Brother Lawrence speak about contemplative prayer.

During my diaconate formation years between 1978 and 1982, I moved deeper into “formal” prayer. As candidates, we were encouraged to do Church prayer which is very structured with psalms and responses, scripture readings, and other “form” prayers like the “Our Father”. It follows a very strict format. What I began to discover as I did this structured prayer was that after it was over, I would often move into a period of silence. With the task of reading over, my thoughts would fall away; and I would move into a stillness from which I had no interest in returning, at least right away. Over time, I discovered it was this time of stillness and silence that was the most beneficial part of the whole church prayer. These were the moments when I experienced being closest to God. As the years passed, the times and length of silence became more dominate, and the other more formal part fell to lessor importance. As a result, contemplative prayer became foundational to my spiritual journey. I’ve been practicing contemplation now for over forty years ago, so I have become quite familiar with it, but I’m still surprised at how little is known about. So I would like to speak briefly about it today. 

What does the church have to say about contemplative prayer? In paragraph 2709 of the Catholic Catechism, we read: “What is contemplative prayer? St. Theresa answers: “Contemplative prayer is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with God who we know loves us.”

I've always practiced silent prayer, but my real explanation of contemplation came through the writings of Fr. Thomas Merton. He is certainly the most contemporary writer on contemplation in our current time. As you probably know, most of his books were written during his years as a Trappist monk at Gethsemane in Kentucky. Thomas Merton brought alive this ancient tradition which had been all but lost by the mainline church. Not that it didn’t exist: It has always been there. But over the course of time, it was principally replaced by the more formal and wordy prayers that we are all more accustomed too today. 

St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa of Avila were contemplatives in themselves and wrote much about contemplation, but it was largely considered a type of prayer reserved for those who had chosen the more strict cloistered life. Thomas Merton changed that.

In the sixties, Pope Paul the V1, recognized the need to revive the contemplative side of the Catholic church. Therefore, he encouraged the contemplative communities, such as the monasteries, to begin to explore ways to bring this dimension more to the forefront. Fr. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk from Snowmass Colorado, took up this task, and with a few of his contemporaries, introduced contemplation to the larger community. Since the group experience of contemplation was one of being in the presence of and centered on Christ, it became known as “centering prayer”.

Thomas Keating wrote a trilogy of books which explained in detail everything that one needs to know about “centering prayer. I was introduced to his books in 1997 while on a four week retreat at the Gethsemane in Kentucky. After reading his books, I changed my own approach to the method he recommended in his book, and have followed it ever since. As with the writings of Thomas Merton, Fr. Thomas Keatings’ books have had a tremendous beneficial influence on my life.

During this same time, a Benedictine monk by the name of Fr. John Main from London England started an approach to contemplative prayer similar to Thomas Keating. John Main himself discovered this prayer while on a foreign assignment to Malaysia. Swami Satyananda, a local holy man from this country, seeing Main’s eagerness to deepen his Christian faith, introduced him to this very simple form of prayer where thoughts, images, concepts, feelings are all left behind in order to realize, first and foremost, God’s indwelling presence. Upon returning to England, and becoming a priest and monk, the Benedictine order to which he belonged would not permit him to use this type of prayer because it was unknown to them. Being a faithful monk, Fr. Main complied with their wishes. 

But years later, while exploring the teachings of the early Church fathers, he discovered that this type of prayer had been extensively used. Based on the conferences of John Cassian, a fifth century monk, Main began the task of introducing contemplation to the greater church community. He called it “Christian Meditation”.

Small groups for both “Centering Prayer” introduced by Keating and “Christian Meditation” introduced by Main, using these two streams of contemplative disciplines, now exist all over the world.

I have personally been involved with the Canadian Christian Meditation Community since my Kentucky retreat in 1997.

We all have a contemplative side, but we live in a world where it is difficult to embrace a contemplative life. Our culture measures successful living by an entirely different yard stick, usually built on activity and busyness. Even church often connects holiness with only the activities of service and ministry. The busier you are the holier you are, or so it seems.

A contemplative is not against activity. Any true faith must always find expression in in active service, but the service must spring from a source and place that lies from within. And a contemplative knows that it is only from a certain depth of silence and solitude that this can be discovered.

In all the other types of prayer that were mentioned above, except maybe the time of silence, we are actively involved in speaking, listening, pondering or reflecting. In Christian Meditation, the process is different. The connection that is made is not by speaking to God or by thinking about God in a complicated way. We do not bring our problems to God asking that these problems be solved. Meditation has to do with being in God’s presence, being attentive to God as in a close sharing between friends. This is very similar to that sense of deep inner joy or interior peace that we sometimes experience at those surprising and unexpected moments: Overlooking the ocean, sitting quietly watching a sunset, observing a view from a high mountain. But strangely, these things do not come about by our pursuing them, or running after them, or trying to catch them. They are moments that come as a gift because we have chosen to be there. They come freely as we pause from our usual busyness and move into inner stillness. “Be still and know that I am God.”

Each year, my wife and I attend a one week contemplative retreat at a monastery or retreat house. During these times, I have followed Fr. George Maloney’s “Eight Day Self-Directed Retreat” Book called “Alone with the Alone”. I’ve done this over a dozen times by now. This retreat experience is from a contemplative stance. Maloney begins his retreat book with the following:

“To contemplate is to move beyond your own activity and become activated by the inner power of the Holy Spirit. It means to be swept up into the threefold love current of the trinity. In this silent prayer of the heart, you move beyond all external activity, all thoughts, feelings and emotions. When done as a regular discipline, the Spirit becomes so powerfully operative that words, imaginings or reasoning become only noise that disturbs the silent communication of God at the core of your being. If you introduce noise by speaking words and fashioning images of God, then you are limiting His freedom to speak His words as He wishes, when He wishes. Over time, the Holy Spirit frees you so God can give Himself to you. Then with utter freedom and joy, you can respond, in deep silence and humble self-surrender, to His Inner Presence.

Experiencing God 231 Right Intention

The Cheerful Giver

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Second Corinthians

St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, encourages us to be a cheerful giver.  In other words, do not give grudgingly, or do not give with the purpose of expecting something in return.  St. Paul challenges us to operate, not from the principal of scarcity, but from the principal of abundance.  If we operate from the principal of scarcity, our attitude is that there is only so much to go around; therefore, I must keep what I have for myself.  If we operate from the principal of abundance, we have the inner disposition that there is enough for everyone, and that what I have is gift.

Jesus points out in the Gospels that there are three sources of growth in God's grace and abundant love: prayer, fasting and alms giving.  These are the three pillars on which holiness is build in accordance with the Judaeo-Christian faith tradition.  But a word of caution is attached to each of these activities.  God's abundant grace will not be recognized or experienced by anyone who approach these activities with the improper disposition or intention.  As Jesus would say: If you trumpet before you the giving of alms in order to gain the attention of others or if you pray and fast in order to be seen or impress others, then you cut yourself off from God's grace.  Why is this?

The answer is that we are doing these holy acts for the wrong reason.  We are not doing them with an intention of gratitude or giving thanks to God for His generous and unconditional love. We are doing them to perpetuate the illusion of our own false "self". This false "self" must be transcended or die if we are to experience God's Kingdom within.  

So what should we do first?  Should we first pray, fast and give alms even though we may do them with an incorrect intention, or should we first develop the right intention, and then pray, fast and give alms?  

My view is that we must do both, together.  I have found, over the years, that my actions of prayer, fasting and giving alms are not always motivated by the purest of intentions.  But through the actions themselves, I become aware that my intentions are not pure. Whenever my prayer is overly concerned with what I get out of it, then I am perpetuating the false self.  But when my prayer is offered with the right intention and disposition, then God's grace and love is very evident.  

All of our life's experiences can teach us to pray, fast and give alms with the purest of intention and with the right disposition.  

You learn through self-examination.   Is the interactions between yourself and others peaceful?  What is your attitude about giving your money or time?  What makes you angry? What do you have a hard time giving up?  What draws you into behaviors that are inappropriate or hurtful to others?

When we discover these things, we begin to act against them, and we pray for the grace to overcome them.  God, who is as close as our own heart, hears.  It's our life work, but through this word we experience an inner transformation that leads to a discovery of our purpose and God's Kingdom within.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed:  "May this cup pass me by, but your will, not mine be done."  Jesus always prayed with the intention of serving and giving glory to God.


Like Jesus, when I can move into the quiet and secret room of my own heart, when I can experience God's abundant grace and love for me, it is then that I know that I pray with the purest of intention and with the right disposition.  It is then I can set aside the cravings and desires of my illusionary false self, and focus on the path God desires me to follow.

Experiencing God 230 True Happiness and Blessedness

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy. 

We all remember the incidents, from the recent past, about the people who were caught in the investment scheme referred to as the Ponzie arrangements.  Perhaps two of the most hated persons in the world at that time, at least in the investment circle, were Bernard Madoff of the US and Earl Jones of Canada.  They swindled thousands of investors out of billions of dollars using this particular scheme.  

I found it interesting to hear what these investors had to say about Madoff and Jones.  They confessed that what was stolen from them was more than their money.  What was stolen, as well, was their fundamental ability to trust any longer in another person.  This deep rooted deception motivated by extreme self-centredness and greed of unimaginable proportion not only resulted in the loss of property but of a loss in faith and trust. This resulted in the birth of anger and resentment that will, for many, take years to deal with.  

Deception!  It has happened to each of at some point and to some degree.  How do we deal with.  Perhaps the path through the anger and mistrust of deception can be found in the beatitudes.

Beatitudes literally means happiness or blessedness.  To experience life in its abundance, to experience blessedness for what has been given to us as gift, is a response of faith.  Happiness or blessedness will never spring from fear of loss or harboring anger or deep rooted resentments.  Jesus' way of happiness has little to do with exterior things and events --how much we have, how popular we are, how important our job -- but comes from a place within.  It springs from a conversion of heart, an inner transformation which in Christian terms we describe as the work of the Holy Spirit.  

How can one possibly find happiness and blessedness in poverty, hunger, meekness?  In essence, if we want to be filled with happiness and blessedness, then we must empty ourselves of all that would shut out God's love from our hearts.  

St. Paul in Colossians advises:  Seek the things that are above.  Set your minds on things that are from God, not on things that are on earth.  You must get rid of all such things as anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language.  Do not lie to one another.  Put to death whatever is earthy -- impurity, evil desires, greed.  

I don't think, as St. Paul goes on to suggest, that God's anger and wrath will befall you if you don't. It's just that harboring these things prevent God's love from shining through.  Anything that is contradictory to what God is all about only shuts out the very happiness and blessedness that we seek.  

Do I experience this shutting out of God's Spirit from time to time?  I sure do, and its mainly when I get caught up in my own ego and its needs.  But blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Happiness and blessedness flows to those who know they are spiritually poor because they have provided the space for God's joy to enter.  To the heart that is humble, God reveals the true source of abundant life and happiness.

We who are victims, we who may have been deceived including the investors who lost so much on the ponzie schemes, we have a choice.  Do we allow these events to create long lasting anger and resentment that shut out God's Spirit, or do we see that what is really important for our happiness and blessedness has very little to do with such things. 

Experiencing God 229 Wisdom

"Jesus exclaimed: I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent, and have revealed them to infants."  
Gospel of Matthew

One thing I've learned during my school years is that there are people who are smarter than me, and there are people who are not quite as smart.  One of my friends during junior and senior high, Bob, was certainly smarter than me.  In fact, he went on to be a doctor.  I don't know why he was smarter.  He just was.  I don't think he worked any harder than I, but he was just able to do better.  Maybe his brain cells were aligned differently, who knows, but he was obviously a gifted person.

I believe we can also say this about success and money.  As with smartness, there are always people who have more money and success, and there are always those who have less.  Again, I fail to understand why, but success  just seems to follow some people, and others really struggle.  The point I'm trying to make with this is that our level of smartness, or our level of success, have really nothing much to do with wisdom, and particularly wisdom that comes from God through faith.  

We only need to read the newspaper to see evidence of very smart and very successful rich people who lack any sort of wisdom that comes from God.  

In the above Gospel, we hear Jesus saying:  "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent, and have revealed them to infants."  

In saying this, Jesus is not implying that there is anything wrong with being intelligent, being clever, or being successful.  But He is saying that when these things become a source of pride that leads to feelings of superiority and greed, then they will blind us to the things of God and His Kingdom.  It is only with child-like simplicity and humility that we can get beyond this pretense, to get beyond our attachment, and to place our trust in that which is greater, wiser and more trustworthy.  

And, of course, this applies to each of us as well.  We all have our strengths, our talents, our skills that enable us to perform in a manner that may seem superior to those who don't share our particular gift.  But the question becomes: "Do I allow my gifts to create an inordinate love for myself at the expense of others"? If they do, then they become our greatest obstacle to the higher gifts of God's grace and love.  Only the humble in heart, or as Jesus would say, only those with a heart of a child, can receive true wisdom of God and His ways.

Experiencing God 228 Aspiring To Faith

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
Gospel of Matthew

Upon first reading of this gospel from Matthew, Jesus' reply to this needy Canaanite woman seemed harsh and insensitive.  Over the years, I've had trouble with it because Jesus seems to be "out of character" with all the other gospel accounts.  When He speaks, it is usually in a gentle non-discriminatory manner. But in this gospel reading, it seems to be different -- but is it?  

The scene takes place in Tyre, which is a coastal village north of Israel.  The place today is located in Lebanon, fifty miles from Beirut.  In Jesus' day, this would be considered foreign territory, principally occupied by those who fell outside of Jewish culture. The fact that Matthew is calling this woman a Canaanite suggests an Old Testament use of the name.  

The Jews portrayed Canaanites as a sinful  race that embodied all that is wicket and godless.  One of the greatest obstacles for the Jewish people entering the promised land came from the Canaanites, the pagans who lived there.  They would have to be overcome before the Israelite people could settle peacefully there.  So Matthew's choice of referencing this woman as a Canaanite must be viewed in relation to this Old Testament understanding. 

The short dialog that pursued in this gospel reading, which seems harsh to us, is really that of "a kind of wit" that was admired in the Near East.  This same wit can be frequently found in the wisdom writings of the Old Testament.  If has that ability to match riddle for riddle, to cap one wise saying with another.  There would be nothing highly unrealistic about this exchange.  Jesus would not have been a genuine Palestinian if He had not occasionally engaged in this duel of wit.  So the scene is much more of an exchange of pleasant good humor than some solemn theological debate.    

One could say that Jesus spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman's immediate response was with wit and faith.

Central to the gospel reading is not the miracle itself, the healing of the woman's daughter, but the solemn praise of her faith, the same theme that is illustrated in Jesus' healing of the Roman centurion's slave.  

As well, the gospel story, does not assert that Jesus did not and does not recommend a mission to the Gentiles.  It does assert, quite strongly, that Jesus does not refuse faith, wherever it may be found, even with those who the Jews did not see in a favorable light.  

Herein lies the teaching for us today who wish to imitate Christ. Holiness requires that we be not to quick to draw distinctions between those who share our culture and religious understanding, and those who don't. 

Look deeply into the hearts of those who may not share our religious practice and piety and we may find what Jesus found in this Canaanite woman.  She possessed a faith that we all aspire too. 

Experiencing God 227 God Desires Mercy, Not Revenge

Change my heart oh God, make it ever new.  Change my heart oh God.  May I be like you.
You are the potter, I am the clay.  Mold me and shape me.  This is why I say: change my heart oh God

I've discovered that within myself, I can be of two hearts.  There is the side of me that can be unduly harsh, quick to exact judgement and sometimes even wish to punish those who may not agree with me.  This side of me wants its own way, its own understanding of things.  It's funny, but when this side of my heart dominates, God is strangely absent.  

And then there is the side of my heart that is aware of its blessedness, that is conscious of life's abundance and the gift that it is.  It is a side that is merciful, loving, forgiving.  It recognizes that it has been granted much more than it deserves.  This side of my heart embraces the mystery of what is; is happy at not being able to understand everything; has no need for control. When this side of my heart is present, God in all His mystery is strangely present as well. 

The story of Jonah is really a story of two hearts.  One part of Jonah's heart wants to control the chain of life's events in accordance with how he judges them.  This side of Jonah's heart stubbornly resists God's mercy and love.  It is the heart that wishes punishment on what it sees as an undeserving pagan nation, a heart resisting God's merciful love.  It is the heart that is resentful towards God for the minor denial of gratification springing from the shade of a castor oil plant.

The other part of Jonah's heart responds to God's call to speak, although reluctantly, to a nation that has missed the mark.  It is a heart that desires to follow God's will, to teach and to even try to impact others in a positive way.  It is a heart that recognizes its resistance to God's will, but eventually submits to the mystery of mercy, even though it may not completely understand.  It is a heart growing away from self-centredness towards other-centredness.

The struggle of Jonah is very person's struggle as we venture to raise our awareness and awaken to the realization that God's ways are not always our ways; that God's greatest weakness is infinitely greater than any human strength; that often, we must trust God's wisdom over our own.

The story of Jonah was written in the second to fourth century BC to the Israelite people whose hearts had grown cold, and who were placing their hope in the destruction of their enemies rather than in their salvation.  This story was meant to awaken them again to the God of their ancestors who desired mercy, not revenge. 

But it can be equally applied to us today.  To nations that continue to see war and destruction as the only way of achieving solutions to their problems.  But equally important, the story can apply and be helpful to us as individuals as we deal with our own divided hearts.  Whether we are aware of it or not, we all long for God's Presence, God's grace, God's mercy, forgiveness and love in our lives. 

The path to that place is not always easy to find, and we struggle with the need to control, and not to care.  We struggle with the need to get back when we are hurt, to protect our position, to assure we get our entitlements.  And these are the very things that crowd out God's mercy and dulls our awareness of God's abundant love.

Change my heart oh God, make it even new.  Change my heart oh God, may I be like you.