We thank you, for you have not destroyed us with our sins, but have continued to love us; and though we were sunk in despair, you have raised us up to glorify your power. Saint Basil’s Prayer
[For the full prayer, click St. Basil’s Prayer: Lent 2024 above.]
Perhaps only those who have come close to drowning in the muck of despair and hopelessness, those who have been lifted out of it when its weight was so heavy that they could not get up on their own two feet, know the power required to pull them up and out. Perhaps they are the only ones who truly see the glory of God in that saving act of restoration.
The rest of us would be wise to remember that compassion in action is a superpower, not a fault or waste of time and energy that could be directed elsewhere.
It’s true–only people who have gone under the third time know what this is really all about. This sent me looking for a favorite quote–
The man with the clear head is the man who frees himself from fantasy and looks life in the face, realized that everything in it is problematic, and feels himself lost. And this is the simple truth – that to live is to feel oneself lost. Whoever accepts this has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look around for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order to the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce. He who does not feel himself lost, is without remission; that is to say, he never finds himself, never comes up against his own reality. – Jose Ortega y Gasset
Thanks for the quote, David! It’s new to me, and really gives such a visual. Peace, Johnna