1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my
trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. 2 Bow down thine ear to me;
deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save
me. 3 For thou art my rock and my
fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my
spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. (Psalms
31:1-5)
The
prayer of the shepherd Psalmist of Israel is the prayer of all who repent of
their sins and cast all their burdens upon that magnanimous altar of Mercy made
available in the shed blood of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This
ancient Lenten hymn, O Kind Creator, Bow Thine Ear, calls our
consciences to the Pillar and Post of our Salvation in Christ. There is nothing
of prideful nature to be found in its beautiful lyrics. The lyrics were
composed, by attribution, to Gregory I in the sixth century. The musical score,
Jesu Carona, Canons, used today is composed by one of the
greatest composers ever to see the light of day, George Fredrick Handel.
(1685-1759)
O Kind Creator,
Bow Thine Ear
O Kind Creator, bow thine ear
to mark the cry, to know the tear
before thy throne of mercy spent
in this thy holy fast of Lent.
Our hearts are open, Lord, to thee:
thou knowest our infirmity;
pour out on all who seek thy face
abundance of thy pardoning grace.
Our sins are many, this we know;
spare us, good Lord, thy mercy show;
and for the honor of thy name
our fainting souls to life reclaim.
Give us the self-control that springs
from discipline of outward things,
that fasting inward secretly
the soul may purely dwell with thee.
We pray thee, Holy Trinity,
one God, unchanging Unity,
that we from this our abstinence
may reap the fruits of penitence.
“O Kind Creator, bow thine ear to
mark the cry, to know the tear before thy throne of mercy spent in this thy
holy fast of Lent.” To whom is our prayer of Lenten Fast
addressed? Is it not to the Kind Creator of our lives and souls, Jesus Christ?
(John 1:1-3) Knowing the Majesty, to whom our petitions are made, to be the
Lord of Lord, and King of Kings, perhaps our reverence and humility will be at
its zenith. It is beyond sound logic that such an high Sovereign would deign to
bend an ear to hear the prayers of such unworthies as we are, but He does. He
is an amazing Savior who bled and died for us while we were yet enemies. He
knows both the sound and source of our crying. The tears we shed should be
surrendered to One who is able to bear them without hard judgment. Is it not
the Lord who will take our tears and store them up in Heaven? “Thou tellest
my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?”
(Psalms 56:8)
Perhaps these tears are those that washed the feet of Jesus at Simon’s House.
We fast not unto ourselves, but for Him before whose Throne we seek for Mercy.
“Our hearts are open, Lord, to
thee: thou knowest our infirmity; pour out on all who seek thy face
abundance
of thy pardoning grace.” Our hearts are always open to Christ.
He knows every mystery and thought of it; however, our hearts in prayer are
open to Him in faith and Communion. We pray such thoughts at the commencement
of every Holy Communion in the Collect for Purity: “ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all
hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid;
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that
we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ
our Lord. Amen.”
He knows that we are weak as water, yet, in Him, we are made strong. All who
diligently seek His face shall find Him, and with the finding, find pardoning
grace and mercy. It is fitting that every fast be broken with Communion to the Lord.
“Our sins are many, this we know;
spare us, good Lord, thy mercy show; and for the honor of thy name our fainting
souls to life reclaim.” Are your sins as many? Yes, for even if
you have only one on your charge sheet, that is one too many to enter into the
gates of Heaven. Of course, we all were burdened down with more sin than we
could even remember. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye
shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah
1:18-20) Since
there is no sacrifice we can make to atone for a single sin, or any good work
we can claim that will justify, there is only one sacrifice that will suffice –
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has considered it honor to redeem
us. What a great discredit and dishonor we do His Holy Name when we reject that
mighty salvation and kindly offering!
“Give us the self-control that
springs from discipline of outward things, that fasting inward secretly the
soul may purely dwell with thee.” That self-control that springs
forth from things outwardly is gained during holy and reverent worship, and
living a life of love that reflects the inward quality of that love. Our
fasting is, indeed, to be an inward fasting so that no man knows but our own hearts.
The hidden fast that we practice will not be heralded by an uncomely smear of
ashes on our forehead to boast to others of our piety, but an ash-heap of such
smeared upon the door posts and lintels of our hearts. Moreover
when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they
disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto
you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head,
and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father
which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee
openly. (Matt 6:16-18) To be absent (in outward
appearances) is to be present with the Lord (in His Throne Room of your heart).
“We pray thee, Holy Trinity, one
God, unchanging Unity, that we from this our abstinence may reap the fruits of
penitence.” How is it possible to pray to the Trinity as an unchanging
Unity? The Holy Trinity is comprised by Three Persons in One. How can they be
One? Because they agree in every point. If we are truly in Christ, we, too, are
One with Christ and, therefore, One with the Father and Holy Ghost. “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the
son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” (John
17:11-12) “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John
17:22-23)
Abstinence
from sin is penitence toward God. Have we fasted from our sins? If we were able
to do that, what of the opposite side of the coin – good works? Have we labored
to satisfy the desperate need of the man by the wayside on the Jericho road?
Has our former hearts of greed and selfish want been changed to hearts of love
and compassion? If not, it matters not what works of contrition or penitence we
perform, for without love, all of our good works are of no worth. (1
Cor 13)
