Day 10: My Holy Name

Text: Leviticus 22:-18

While there is a strangeness that separates us from a Holy God, we sense that it is not altogether unwelcoming. While the rigors of separateness keep us apart from Him who is perfect, we are given an invitation to draw near. We are drawn to God whose light exposes us, but embraces us in the warmth of His love. We find His all-encompassing purity - unblinking and unsparing - shows us what we are and how we stand in His presence, and yet we find Him here with us. He has not cloaked Himself and hid, nor turned away in disgust.

"All around us, to right and left, in front and behind, above and below, we have only to go a little beyond the frontier of sensible appearances in order to see the divine welling up and showing through. But it is not only close to us, in front of us, that the divine presence has revealed itself. It has sprung up universally, and we find ourselves so surrounded and transfixed by it, that there is no room left to fall down and adore it, even within ourselves.

By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and moulds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers. In eo vivimus. As Jacob said, awakening from his dream, the world, this palpable world, which we were wont to treat with the boredom and disrespect with which we habitually regard places with no sacred association for us, is in truth a holy place, and we did not know it. " Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Day 9: Letting Go of Sin

Text: Leviticus 16: 20-22

The ultimate sacrifice not only carried our sins so that we are separated from it, but offered His own life so that we are eternally free from the debt of our sins.

Love, I have drawn from the scabbard the unsterile blade
that pierced your side,
as I cast my lot for your humble linen clothing.
Your terrible voice, rasping in pain, called forth a forgiveness unexpected, unasked.
And in the midst of strife and hatred, we have found you, t
he antidote of loathing that seemed to be our squandered inheritance.

Love, in the unquiet longings of my heart, in the wildness of my being, i
n the unruly dark side of me that I have tried so hard to push away,
to deny, repressing, I lay bloody, beaten, bowed.
In the quiet, steady rhythm of your heartbeat I have hushed
the fever of my soul, and my delirious agitation come to a stand still.

Love, your gentle presence, overflowing with a mercy,
unoffended by our trite and clichéd half-hearted attempts at praising you beguiles us.
We sway in the unforced cadence of your grace.
Our inner voices screaming with untold horrors finally turn into murmurs of adoration,
of raptures that are now our own.

Day 8: The Necessity of Sacrifice

Leviticus 4:32-35

The careful details of the where and the why of a sacrifice underline the seriousness of the act. You do not take it lightly, nor do you absent-mindedly go about the rituals of the sacrifice. Deliberate attention should be given. No details are too trivial or too little. In fact the very people chosen by God is distinguished from the rest of the world not only in their dietary requirements but also by the rigorous adherence to a law that points to a particular God that demands a certain way of holiness. This means that righteousness does not come without effort, or intention.

The intention of the sacrifice is for the forgiveness of sin. The intense prescription only emphasize the seriousness of sin. The cost of the forgiveness does not come cheap. The severity of our sins is matched by the painstaking details needed so that forgiveness can flow.

We thank God that the perfect, ultimate sacrifice has one and for all satisfied, quieted and fulfilled the demands of the law so that we are forgiven.
Thank you, Lord.