January 26, 2023

When Virginia Woolf published her first piece of literary criticism in the Guardian, a friend sent her a note of congratulations. I love her response. “Not that a review deserves praise, it is necessarily dull work reviewing I think, and I hate the critical attitude of mind because all the time I know what a humbug I am, and ask myself what right have I to dictate what’s good and bad, when I couldn’t, probably, do as well myself!”

Isn’t it so darn easy to make yourself comfortable in the seat of judgment? Dispensing decrees on what is good and what is bad? It is so easy to do, because that is our original temptation – the serpent told our first parents that we would be like God. And it so noxious and hellish, because we are not God. Oh, the presumption!

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

“We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honor and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (The Great Litany – BCP)