Thought for the Day

At the end of a meeting with my confessor, he took me through an exercise that I found most helpful, we recited, slowly, in call-and-response, and with one alteration, Psalm 131:

O LORD, I am not proud;
I have no haughty looks.

I do not occupy myself with great matters,
or with thoughts that are too hard for me.

But I still my soul and make it quiet,
like a child upon its mother's breast;
my soul is quieted within me.

O Israel, wait upon the LORD,
from this time forth for evermore

Each repetition was slower than the last; by the third, I was feeling muscles unclench that I had not even known I was clenching. As someone who tends to overthink, and to worry (I know, Mtt. 6:24-35!), this exercise was tremendously helpful to me, and soothing.