September 9, 2007

Psalm 31: 9-16
Be kind to me, God— I'm in deep, deep trouble again.
I've cried my eyes out; I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan; my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I'm a monster; I'm ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified; they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory, forget me like a corpse in a grave,
discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me "criminally insane"!
Behind locked doors they plot how to ruin me for good.
Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God!
Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me.
Warm me, your servant, with a smile; save me because you love me.

Matthew 26: 36-39
Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, "Stay here while I go over there and pray." Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, "This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me." Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, "My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?"