5th Sunday of Lent
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Written by Megan Ourso
One of my favorite book series is The Chronicles of Narnia. My favorite of the series is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Naturally, I adore Lucy for the childlike trust she shows from the very beginning, but since revisiting the series as an adult, I find my heart journeying alongside Edmund. The way he isolates himself, grasps at the attention and the power he thinks the White Witch can give him, and throws himself a nice little pity party when he realizes he has messed up… is this not me?
But then he is rescued and meets Aslan, and everything changes. He changes. There is a before and an after, and it affects him the next time he encounters the Witch:
“‘You have a traitor there, Aslan,’ said the Witch... Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he’d been through and after the talk he’d had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn’t seem to matter what the Witch said.” (Lewis, C.S. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. First Harper Trophy edition ed., New York City, Harper Collins, 2000, pp. 141.)
This Edmund is different from the brat we meet at the beginning of the story. He has gained wisdom and an understanding of who he is, something he would never have come to know without first meeting Aslan in his human brokenness.
Similar to Edmund, we cannot save ourselves. We cannot cleanse ourselves of our sins. We cannot change our own hearts. Only God can do that. The only catch is our hearts have to be broken first. As this Psalm continues on to say: “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17).
That is the only kind of heart the Lord can work with. If we pretend that we are not broken, that we have it all together, we will never have a chance of being created anew. We will never know the tenderness of the Father if we pretend we have no need of a Savior. He is just waiting to give the gift of a clean heart. He already has it prepared; we need only ask!
If you have not done so yet during this Lenten season, I strongly encourage you to go to confession. What a gift that we have a sacrament where we can come face to Face with Love Himself and leave with clean hearts!
Megan Ourso works as an appraiser in southeast Louisiana. She has always been fascinated by stories and is an avid reader and writer. Follow Megan on Instagram (@maid_megan).
Pray with today’s psalm.