This week, we get a brief overlap in our Jewish and Catholic traditions. At Mass today, Esther’s prayer to God:
God of Abraham,
God of Isaac,
and God of Jacob,
blessed are you.
Help me, who am alone
and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.
As a child I used to hear
from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD,
always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone
and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.
And tonight at sundown, we begin the festival of Purim. I love that repeated line in the queen’s prayer, “help me, who am alone, and have no one but you.” Lent invites us to a singlemindedness toward God, recognizing him as our only Savior.
A traditional treat imaged above, hamantaschen.
