T

Mary and Elizabeth

Mary and Elizabeth two strong women
whose wombs carried two strong men.

Mary and Elizabeth two hospitable women
with wombs wide, full of grace and conversion.

Mary and Elizabeth, two generous women,
nurturing nests, embracing seedling life
in their bodies’ secret homes.

Mary and Elizabeth, did they know the dance
within their wombs might change a hearting heart,
transform a languished life?

Mary and Elizabeth, two holy women
wombs gestating goodness, sources of nurturing grace
yeast for every inner birthing.

                                                            Joyce Rupp from Out of the Ordinary

View all problems as challenges.  Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow.  Don’t run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence.  You have a problem?  Great.  More grist for the mill.  Rejoice, dive in and investigate.

                        Bhante Henepola Gunaratana from Mindfulness in Plain English

Mother of God, you cared for and nurtured the divine life within you.
--may I daily do the same through faithfulness to prayer and virtuous action.

Mother of God, you experienced the pain of contractions as you birthed the Holy One,
--may I have the courage to bear the pains of my inner growth.

Mother of God, you felt the child within you stirring and kicking,
--may I deepen my awareness of God’s stirrings in the midst of my life.

Mother of God, when the divine child pushed forth from your womb he uttered his first cry,
--may I believe in the goodness within me that is yet to resound.

Mother of God, the newly born child in your arms engendered awe, mystery and wonder,
--may I, too, reverence and be awed by the way that the Divine One enters my life.

                                    Joyce Rupp  from Out of the Ordinary

When we fall on the ground it hurts us, but we also need to rely on the ground to get back up.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  I do not see the road ahead of me.  I cannot know for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.  And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.  I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

                                    Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude

You are a victim only once—after that, you are a volunteer.

May I speak each day according to Thy justice,
Each day may I show Thy chastening, O God;
May I speak each day according to thy wisdom,
Each day and night may I be at peace with Thee.

Each day may I count the causes of Thy mercy,
May I each day give heed to Thy laws;
Each day may I compose to Thee a song,
May I harp each day Thy praise, O God.

May I each day give love to Thee, Jesu,
Each night may I do the same;
Each day and night, dark and light,
May I laud Thy goodness to me, O God.

                        A prayer in the Celtic tradition from The Carmina Gadelica

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you:  Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.  Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.  Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You’ll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.  Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.  No, God brings it all to you.  The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Miracles …
rest not so much
upon faces or voices
or healing power
coming from afar off,
but on our perceptions
being made finer,
so that for a moment
our eyes can see
and our ears can hear
what is there about us
always.

MORNING PRAYER

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of today.

Refresh me, invite me to discover your presence
in each person I meet and in every event I encounter.

Teach me when to speak and when to listen,
when to ponder, when to share my thoughts.

In moments of challenge and decision,
attune my heart to the whisperings of your wisdom.

As I undertake ordinary tasks, give me the gift of simple joy.

When the day goes well, may I rejoice.
When it grows difficult and dark, surprise me with new possibilities.

When life seems overwhelming,
call me to Sabbath moments to restore peace and harmony to my soul.

May my living today reveal your goodness. 
Lord, bless me as I am today.
Bless what I do.
Incline my heart and hands into your ways of love.

                                                SSJ  from “150 A Celebration of Faith”          

The Melted Heart

Lord, when my eye confronts my heart, and I realize that you have filled my heart with your love, I am breathless with amazement.  Once my heart was so small in its vision, so narrow in its compassion so weak in its zeal for truth.  Then you chose to enter my heart, and now in my heart I can see you, I can love all your people, and I have courage to proclaim the truth of your gospel to anyone and everyone.  Like wax before a fire, my heart has melted under the heat of your love.

                        Count Von Zinzendorf, founder of the Moravian Church         

That prayer has great power
which a person makes with all his might.
It makes a sour heart sweet,
a sad heart merry,
a poor heart rich,
a foolish heart wise,
a timid heart brave,
a sick heart well,
a blind heart full of sight,
a cold heart ardent.
It draws down the great God
into the little heart;
it drives the hungry soul
up into the fullness of God;
it brings together two lovers,
God and the soul,
in a wondrous place
where they speak much of love.

                        Mechthild of Magdeburg

Perhaps real wisdom lies in not seeking answers at all.  Any answer we find will not be true for long.  An answer is a place where we can fall asleep as life moves past us to its next question…The secret of living well is not in having all the answers, but in pursing unanswerable questions in good company.

                        Rachel Naomi Remen   in My Grandfather’s Blessings

Most of the tree of life is not physical. The whole phenomenal universe-matter, energy, and mind-is only the canopy of countless little leaves. This is all we can see. But each leaf grows from a twig, which grows from a branch, which in turn grows from a vast trunk. And supporting the trunk and all its leaves and twigs and branches—completely hidden-is the taproot, extending deep into pure being. The taproot of this tree is the Lord, the eternal, changeless Self.

The image is more than poetry: it is personal and practical. As long as we live on the surface of life, we believe we are separate, individual leaves. We lead private lives that bear little relation to the rest of the tree, even though when we are cut off from that tree we have no life. Driven by self-will, we cannot imagine we are forfeiting the whole of life for the little leaf we call our individual personality. So when you get up in the morning, remind yourself of this magnificent simile, which asks us to claim the whole Tree of Life and not be content with being one seasonal leaf.

            Eknath Easwaran

My Poems Attempt

All
of what
I would want my child to know            
my poems attempt.

We are infants before each other, are we not,
so vulnerable to each other’s words and
movements.

A school I sat in cured me of hurting others.
I have come to see that all are seated at His table, and I
have become His
servant.

Sometimes God is too shy to speak in public
and He pinches me.

That
is my cue—
to fill in the blanks of your
understanding
the best I
can.

Rabia, 8^th c. female Muslim poet

The sun
She
is setting
in the tall grass
beneath the pines

where the heart
beats
one with the land

where the mule deer
approach
their antlers raised
where with palms
upturned
we pray

            Charlie Mehrhoff

The Pilgrim’s Rune

King of the Elements—Love-Father of Bliss,
In my pilgrimage from airt to airt,
            From airt to airt,
May each evil be a good to me,
May each sorrow be a gladness to me,
            And may Thy Son be my foster-brother,
            Oh, may Thy Son be my foster-brother.

Holy Spirit—Spirit of Light,
A pilgrim I throughout the night,
                        Throughout the night,
Lave my heart pure as the stars,
Lave my heart pure as the stars,
            Nor fear I then the spells of evil,
                        The spells of evil.

Jesus—Son of the Virgin pure,
Be thou my pilgrim-staff through the lands,
            Throughout the lands,
Thy love in all my thoughts, Thy likeness in my face.
May I heart-warms to others, and they heart-warm to me,
            For  love of the love of Thee,
            For love of the love of Thee.    

            Celtic prayer collected by Kenneth Macleod

Pure beauty, benediction: you are all I gathered
From a life that was bitter and confused,
In which I learned about evil, my own and not my own.
Wonder kept dazzling me, and I recall only wonder,
The risings of the sun in boundless foliage,
Flowers opening after the night, universe of grasses,
A blue outline of the mountains and a shout of hosanna.
How many times I thought: is this the truth of the Earth?
How can laments and curses be turned into hymns?
Why do I pretend when I know so much?
But the lips praised on their own, the feet on their own were running,
The heart was beating strongly, and the tongue proclaimed adoration.

Outwitted

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

            Edwin Markham

A little Madness in the Spring

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—

Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own!

The Glory in the Grey

Almighty God…
Sun behind all suns,
Soul behind all souls….
Show to us in everything we touch
and everyone we meet the continued assurance of thy presence round us,
lest ever we think thee absent.
In all created things thou art there.
In every friend we have
the sunshine of thy presence is shown forth.
In every enemy that seems to cross our path,
thou art there within the cloud to challenge us to love.
Show to us the glory in the grey.
Awake for us thy presence in the very storm
till all our joys are seen as thee
and all our trivial tasks emerge as priestly sacraments
in the universal temple of thy love.

            George McLeod, excerpted by Philip Newell

We confuse attachment with love. Attachment is concerned with my needs, my happiness, while love is an unselfish attitude, concerned with the needs and happiness of others. Most of the time our love is mixed with attachment because we do not feel adequate or secure on our own, and try to find wholeness through another. We become dependent on the good feelings and comfort of the relationship and then suffer when it changes. A relationship free of unrealistic grasping is free of disappointment, conflict, jealousy, and other problems, and is fertile ground for the growth of love and wisdom.

When you see a truck bearing down on you, by all means jump out of the way. But spend some time in meditation, too. Learning to deal with discomfort; is the only way you’ll be ready to handle the truck you didn’t see.

            Bhante Henepola Gunaratana from Mindfulness in Plain English

Here we are, God—a planet at prayer. Attune our spirits that we may hear your harmonies and bow before your creative power that we may face our violent discords and join with your Energy to make heard in every heart your hymn of peace.

Here we are, God—a militarized planet. Transform our fears that we may transform our war fields into wheatfields, arms into handshakes, missles into messengers of peace.

Here we are, God—a polluted planet. Purify our vision that we may perceive ways to purify our beloved lands, cleanse our precious waters, de-smog our life-giving air.

Here we are, God—an exploited planet. Heal our heart, that we may respect our resources, hold priceless our people and provide for our starving children an abundance of daily bread.

            Joan Metzner

To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in the face of everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times.

                        Thomas Merton

Hear, O Humankind, the prayer of my heart.
For are we not one, have we not one desire,
 to heal our Mother Earth and bind her wounds
 to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers
 the varied ever-changing Song of Creation?

O humankind, are we not all brothers and sisters,
 are we not the grandchildren of the Great Mystery?
Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work
 and to play, to sing and dance together?

But we live with fear. Fear that is hate, fear
 that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity, fear that is
 ambition, competition, aggression, fear that is
 loneliness, anger, bitterness, cruelty…and yet,
 fear is only twisted love, love turned back on itself,
 love that was denied, love that was rejected…
and love…

Love is life—creation, seed and leaf
 and blossom and fruit and seed, love is growth
 and search and reach and touch and dance.
Love is nurture and succor and feed and pleasure,
 love is pleasuring ourselves pleasuring each other,
 love is life believing in itself.

And life…
Life is the Sacred Mystery singing to itself, dancing
 to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing
 and we are all that Spirit, our stories all
 but one cosmic story that we are love indeed,
 that perfect love in me seeks the love in you,
 and if our eyes could ever meet without fear
 we would recognize each other and rejoice,
for love is life believing in itself.

            Manitoncquat

Prayer and sacrifice must be used as the most effective spiritual weapons in the war against war, and like all weapons, they must be used with deliberate aim; not just with a vague aspiration for peace and security, but against violence and war. This implies that we are also willing to sacrifice and restrain our own instinct for violence and aggressiveness in our relations with other people. We may never succeed in this campaign, but whether we succeed or not, the duty is evident.

            Thomas Merton

Creative awareness lets you see the problems in your relationships clearly. We often relate to people only on certain conditions; we ask them to fulfill our needs or to be exactly as we want them to be. But the beauty of a relationship is that it enables you to open to another person, and that person to you. With creative awareness, you become more aware and appreciative of other people. You see them as they are, not as you want them to be. You recognize their good qualities but you also see their foibles and have space for those too: you begin to love them unconditionally. Acceptance is the ground of love.

Martine Bachelor from Meditation for Life

Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. You may not be perfect, but you are all you’ve got to work with. The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.

What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone,
in the forest, at night, cherished by this
wonderful, unintelligible,
perfectly innocent speech,
the most comforting speech in the world,
the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges,
and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!
Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it.
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain.
As long as it talks I am going to listen.

            Thomas Merton

One Moment of Praise

O God of every now, and then,
       we pause for one moment to praise you
              for all the moments of our lives.

We praise you for the glorious moments:
        bread, the intimacy of lovers, lilacs, morning coffee,
               a rooted word, a rapturous song, a circle of stories,
                      the scrunch of oldsters at play, children at prayer.

We praise you for the shared moments:
        honest exchange, deepening trust, earned friendship,
               smudgy work, a ballet of ideas, a lullaby of quietness,                                    
                     trouble met, the release of tears, the easing of fears,
                             the renewing of wonder, the embracing of mystery.

We praise you for the surprising moments:
     in the wink of a stranger, the flutter of hope in the stillness,
          the enchantment of a rainbow and claim of a promise kept,
               the goodness beneath the flurry of things,
                    beauty out of the muck,
                         the clarified direction in a prayer,
                              a light in the soul’s night.

We praise you for the holy moments:
     all the bearers of love, of truth, of mercy,
          of meaning, of demand, of amazement,
               all that nudges us to readiness for the risks of faith,
                    the mysterious all that attaches us to your grace,
                         from which nothing can separate us.

O God, we praise you for every moment,
     for you, source of each moment,
          and present in all moments, always, in all ways.
               Amen.

Ted Loder,  My Heart in My Mouth

Dark Testament

Brown girl chanting Te Deums on Sunday
Rust colored peasant with strength of granite,
Bronze girl welding ship hulls on Monday,
Let nothing smirch you, let no one crush you.
Queen of ghetto, sturdy hill-climber,
Walk with the lilt of ballet dancer,

Walk like a strong down-East wind blowing,
Walk with the majesty of the First Woman.
Gallant challenger, millioned-hope bearer,
The stars are your beacons, earth your inheritance,
Meet blaze and cannon with your own heart’s passion,
Surrender to none the fire of your soul…

Pauli Murray

When God wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, He goes about it in a very singular way. He doesn’t release thunderbolts or stir up earthquakes. God simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps of a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother. And God puts the idea or purpose into the mother’s heart. And she puts it in the baby’s mind, and then—God waits. The great events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. The great events are babies, for each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humanity, but is still expecting goodwill to become incarnate in each human life.

Edmond McDonald

The Twenty-Third Psalm

The Lord is my vision of sky; you are infinite.
You calm me with blueness.
You reflect clear waters and refresh me.
You cover me every day, you know me,
and you want me to do what is right.
You give light by day and by night
for me to consider my thoughts and my actions.

Even though I experience pain and need,
Even though there are fogs and storms,
I know that you are still there and will be there tomorrow.
You are always above and around me like an embrace.

You share dawn and dusk, snow and rain,
sun-dogs and rainbows,
sun and moon, planets and stars,
thunderclouds and comets as some ways to reveal your greatness.
I am in awe; I am humbled that I am a part of your creation.
You give me white clouds and breezes
so that even when I am old I can dream as a child.
When I pass from this life, I pray that I will fly like a bird
to be with others flown from this life, too,
to be free to rest in your forever.

Mary Lee F-M, May 25, 2004

The truth is that this world is full of love. This world is an embodiment of the bliss of God. Look at the trees – God’s love is vibrating in them. Look at the water — God’s love is vibrating in water. Look at the faces of all the people — God’s love is vibrating there.

            Swami Muktananda

A HUNDRED OBJECTS CLOSE BY

I know a cure for sadness:
Let your hands touch something that
makes your eyes smile.

I bet there are a hundred objects close by
that can do that.

Look at
beauty’s gift to us—
her power is so great she enlivens
the earth, the sky, our
soul.

Mira, 16^th c. Hindu saint from India

AND HELP HIM COMFORT

God has
a special interest in women
for they can lift this world to their breast
and help Him
comfort.

            Mira

A  LIMB JUST MOVED

You taught Your songs to the birds first,
why was that?

And You practiced Your love in the hearts of animals
before You created man.

I know the planets talk at night
and tell secrets
about
You.

A limb just moved before me,
the beauty of this world
is causing me to
weep.

            Mira  16^th c. Indian poet-saint

Breath of God

What if
there is no God? When we die,
    all of us, you, them, me,
    house cats, hawks, coyotes,
spotted calves, snakes, honeybees,
    redwoods, white pines, bur oaks,
    bluestem, tall corn, marigolds
    do we all whirl
    into the funnel of abyss,
of nothing, as though we never lived?
But, what if
    we really are from the breath of God,
    exhaled into the world,
    and we return to God,
    inhaled,
    God needing us, too?

LAST NIGHT AS I WAS SLEEPING

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
 out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh, water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
 that I have never drunk.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
 here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
 from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
 light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
 warmth as from a hearth,
 and sun because it gave light
 and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

Antonio Machado

The things, good Lord, that we pray for, give us the grace to labour for.

St. Thomas More

Prayer is like a portable Sabbath, when we close our eyes for just a moment and let the mind rest in the heart. Like the Muslims who stop to pray five times a day, like the Angelus, we can be stopped by a bell, a sunset, a meal, and we can pray. Something close to the heart, and simple. Perhaps a line from the Twenty-third Psalm, the Lord’s Prayer, a short blessing: May all beings be happy, may all beings be at peace. Thank you, God, for this most amazing day. The Lord is my shepherd. Thy will be done.

            Wayne Muller

The Century Prayer  (1901)

Lord God of Hosts incline thine ear
To this, Thy humble servant’s prayer:
May war and strife and discord cease;
This century, Lord God, give us peace!
Henceforth, dear Lord, may we abhor
Thought of strife, the curse of war.
One blessing more, our store increase,
This is our payer, Lord, give us peace!

May those who rule us rule with love,
As thou dost rule the courts above;
May man to man as brothers feel,
Lay down their arms and quit the field;
Change from our brows the angry looks,
Turn swords and spears to pruning-hooks.
One blessing more our store increase,
This is our prayer, Lord, give us peace!

May flags of war fore’er be furled,
The milk white flag wave o’er the world;
Let not a slave be heard to cry,
Lion and lamb together life;
May nations meet in one accord
Around one peaceful festive board.
One blessing more, our store increase,
This is our prayer, Lord, give us peace!

Joseph Ephraim McGirt

At a time when we are all so busy getting the work of joy done right, here is something to remember: “We must get in touch with our own liberating ludicrousness and practice being harmlessly deviant.”

            Sarah J. McCarthy

A Morning Prayer

In the silence of the early morning
    your Spirit hovers over the brink of the day
    and new light pierces the darkness of the night.
In the silence of the morning
life begins to stir around me
    and I listen for the day’s first utterances.
In earth, sea and sky
and in the landscape of my own soul
I listen for utterances of your love, O God.
I listen for utterances of your love.

            Philip Newell

A Dieter’s Prayer

Heavenly Father, at the first twinge of hunger
Let me turn to you first for fulfillment.
Fill me with your love.
Fill me with your truth.
Fill me with your compassion.
Fill me with your wisdom.
Fill me with your peace.
Fill me with your joy.
Help me to preserve this holy temple you have given me.
Help me to honor my body with healthy choices.
Help me to control my cravings and to discern my true hunger.
Do I seek nourishment for my body or sustenance for my soul?
Let me seek you first, knowing everything else will be given to me.

            Glenna Mahoney

O God, give me, I pray Thee,
light on my right hand
and light on my left hand
and light above me
and light beneath me.
Lord, increase light within me
   and give me light
   and illuminate me.

            --Ascribed to Mohammad

Moon

O moon of the sky!
O moon of the heart!
So ordinary,
            so extraordinary in your waxing and waning.
We fail to see you boxed in our snug little houses.
We fail to know you as part of the original three—
            the Trinity of Being,
            always in relationship to the sun and the earth,
            revolving, spinning, playing with them.
You mirror our souls in their journeys, ebbing and flowing.
You cause our inner tides to stream, shimmer, and dance.
In your waxing and waning is the long Cosmic Breath.
When the cow jumped over you, she uttered her one word: MOO!
Is that why we call you “moon?”

            Barbara Schlachter

Mystical Moment

Far beyond the “we” and the “they”
Far beyond the “me and the “mine,”
There is only a One.
All our little dots of self curve back to one full and perfect circle—
            The Great Miracle of Being itself.
So enjoy the bliss of sky around you,
the thrill of earth holding you.
Enjoy the dance, the daily dance
            as the sun rises and falls,
            rises and falls as surely as an ocean wave.
Let nothing stop you.
Let nothing trouble you.
Breathe it in. Dance it out.
It is all too wonderful for these words.

            Barbara Schlachter

Mother’s Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

St. Mechtild of Magdeburg, Mystic, Prophet, about 1282

            GREAT MYSTERY, we praise you for your servant Mechtild and for the intimate relationship she had with you throughout her long life.  We remember her persistence and bravery in speaking out against corrupt priests, the most powerful men of her day, despite the harm that came to her as a result.  Help us to be as prayerful and as persistent and brave when we are faced with similar calls to action, in the name of the Lord who challenged the religious authorities of his day.  Amen.

Martha of Bethany, Evangelist, and Her Sister, Mary   John 11: 17-44

PRECIOUS BROTHER, in your great compassion for Martha’s and Mary’s grief over the death of their brother, you show us that a man’s tears are as natural as a woman’s, and that the anger that comes with grief can become the rock of faith.  Help us break down the barriers to wholeness that have caused women to be either frenzied doers or passive listeners.  Readjust our sense of balance so each of us may value who we really are.  Confirm our belief in you so that, even in times of sore distress, we may proclaim with Martha, “You are the Christ.”  For we ask in your name, Jesus, with the Mother-Father and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

            Jane Richardson Jensen and Patricia Harris-Watkins

Mission

Sometimes I remember,
in a hushed moment,
the daring of my youth,
all I claimed
and gathered in,
built up
and spread out—
casting the word of God
all over the world
in a great young surge
of mission zeal.

Sometimes I remember,
in a hushed moment,
the thousands of miles
I traveled,
crossing mountains,
desert and bushland
to far distant peoples,
inspiringly different
and gloriously colored.

Sometimes I remember,
in a hushed moment,
how they molded me,
giving me new voice
and a deeper vision,
leaving me lonely
amongst my own.

Sometimes I remember,
in a hushed and sacred moment,
how my small familiar God
slipped from my hold
like a doll,
as I stumbled,
gasping,
into the divine expanse.

Edwina Gateley

Forgive me, gracious Lord and Father, if this day I have done or said anything to increase the pain of the world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where I had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable me so to live that I may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness.

            F.B. Meyer

THE METIER OF BLOSSOMING

Fully occupied with growing—that’s
the amaryllis. Growing especially
at night: it would take
only a bit more patience than I’ve got
to sit keeping watch with it till daylight;
the naked eye could register every hour’s
increase in height. Like a child against a barn door,
proudly topping each year’s achievement,
steadily up
goes each green stem, smooth, matte,
traces of reddish purple at the base, and almost
imperceptible vertical ridges
running the length of them:
Two robust stems from each bulb,
sometimes with sturdy leaves for company,
elegant sweeps of blade with rounded points.
Aloft, the gravid buds, shiny with fullness.

One morning—and so soon!—the first flower
has opened when you wake. Or you catch it poised
in a single, brief
moment of hesitation.
Next day, another,
shy at first like a foal,
even a third, a fourth,
carried triumphantly at the summit
of those strong columns, and each
a Juno, calm in brilliance, a maiden giantess in modest splendor.
If humans could be that intensely whole,
undistracted, unhurried,
swift from sheer
unswerving impetus!  If we could blossom
out of ourselves, giving
nothing imperfect, withholding nothing!

Denise Levertov

December 29

            St. Melania the Younger, Philanthropist, Founder of Churches, Convents, Monasteries, Pilgrim, 439

            GREAT CREATOR, we praise you for St. Melania the Younger’s generosity and adventurous spirit.  We note her role in founding churches, convents, and monasteries in Europe and the Middle East.  We applaud Melania’s sharing her wealth to help the poor and sick.  We are amazed at this woman who managed to free some 8,000 slaves in a mere two years, and who bought off pirates when she and her followers were shipwrecked and threatened.  Melania’s courageous devotion in making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and settling there are inspiring.  Help us to share what we have joyously and to use our talents to benefit those in need, whether they are nearby or far away.  Glory to the Openhanded One.  Amen.

            “She Who Prays”

Mindful

Every day
I see or I hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It is what I was born for—
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world—
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation. 
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant—
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations. 
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these—
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

            Mary Oliver

In Hebrew scripture, one of the most powerful figures, Wisdom—called Hokkmah in the original language and Sophia in the Greek—is feminine.  She is the most important aspect of human life, the quality without which we would live like animals.  She is more important than riches or fame, than sensual pleasure or power.

Knowledge leads to Wisdom, but is not Wisdom herself.  And Wisdom leads, the Book of Proverbs tells us, to justice and to truth.  But as the ancient text makes clear, Wisdom is hard to find in the marketplaces of this world—the marketplace of ideas as well as products.  She must raise her voice to be heard over the din of commerce and competing interests.  Yet, if we pay attention, she is there.  She is still there, calling for us to listen and follow her to justice and to truth.

Patricia Monaghan in “The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit”

May we learn to open in love
so all the doors and windows
of our bodies swing wide
on their rusty hinges.

May we learn to give ourselves with both hands,
to lift each other on our shoulders,
to carry one another along.

May holiness move in us
so we pay attention to its small voice
and honor its light in each other.

            Dawna Markova in “Prayers for Healing”

I want what is left:
The tea leaves, the soiled images on cards,
The gasp of words as meaning slips away,
The rinds of the alphabet,
The chewed poems of prisoners,
The bones and skeletons,
The secretions, the shattered sperm,
The spilled blood,
Broken ova, the phlegm and the cough.

It has always been women’s work to prepare the corpose.

But I will not make a corpse from these elements,
I will make a child.
I will make you such a rose of a child,
A rose of a child held in the crook
Of the dark hand of a dead branch,
I will make you a child shining
Like an angel from these elements of dark,
And the child will sing.
This is what we have
This is what we have to work with.

So give them to me,
First, your dead, moldering
In the dreadful heat of your deserted cities,
Then, give me the iron birds in the sky,
With their demented warbling,
Last, I want your radiant soil
With its eternal shimmer,
Give me everything mangled and bruised,
And I will make a light of it to make you weep,
And we will have rain,
And begin again.

            Deena Metzger, “Leavings” for Sister Cao ngor Phuong in “Prayers of Healing”

May Anger and Fear Turn to Love

O God
whose Son in anger
drove the money-changers
from the temple
let the anger of Nkwenkwe Nkomo
and his fellow detainees
be to the cleansing
of this land.

O God
I hold before you
the anger
the rage
the frustration
the sorrow
of Mrs. Nkomo and all black mothers
who demand for their children
the same chance to grow up
strong and tall
loving and unafraid
as any white mother
wants for her children;
 
In penitence
I offer you
my own mixed-up anger
that it, with theirs,
may be taken up
into your redemptive will
in which the clash
between anger and fear
oppressed and oppressor
can give way
to the incomprehensible action
of agape-love
bringing about the reconciliation
the embrace of the other
the alien
the enemy
creating the festival of shalom
in which the wolf shall lie down
with the lamb
and the whole of life on earth
shall rejoice
in the splendor of your glory.

Dr.Margaret Nash is a prominent Anglican lay person in Cape Town.  She joined black workers in resisting the bulldozing of their shacks, which had been declared illegal under apartheid laws.  Nkwenkwe Nkomo was one of thousands of young people who were jailed without trial laws during the apartheid era. 

From   “An African Prayer Book” ed. by Desmond Tutu

All are Kings and Prophets

Do you not realize or understand your own nobility?  Each of those who have been anointed with the heavenly chrism becomes a Christ by grace, so that all our  kings and prophets of the heavenly mysteries.

            Saint Macarius from “An African Prayer Book”

You Have Faith with our Bodies

Father, thank you for your revelation
about death
and illness
and sorrow.

Thank you for speaking so plainly to us,
for calling us all friends
and hovering over us;
for extending your arms out to us.

We cannot stand on our own;
we fall into death without you. 
We fall from faith, left to our own. 
We really are friendless without you.

Your extended arms fill us with joy,
expressing love,
love caring and carrying,
asking and receiving our trust.

You have our trust, Father,
and our faith
with our bodies
and all that we are and possess.

We fear nothing when with you,
safe to stretch out and help others,
those troubled in faith,
those troubled in body.

Father, help us to do with our bodies what we proclaim,
that our faith be known to you
and to others,
and be effective in all the world.

            Masai, Tanzania from “An African Prayer Book”

The Healer

I watch.
I watch, I wait
and am still,
abiding the cycle that moves
as it will.

The beauties,
the struggles
that most do not see,
the hidden and secret
are open to me.

The new and the full and the dark
of the moon,
the shapes in the shadows,
the brightness of noon
all have their place
in the turning of time…
both coming and going
have reason
and rhyme.

The herbs of the field and the
symbols of land
bring healing and bless
as they come through my hand.

I welcome the fruits,
I welcome new birth,
as old wounds are healed
in the joy
of the earth.

Nancy Rose Meeker from “Prayers for Healing”

I am the unopened bud, and I the blossom,
            I am the lifeforce gathering to a crest,
I am the still companion of the silence,
            I am the farflung seeker of the quest.
I am the daughter gathering in wisdom,
            I am the son whose questions never cease,
I am the dawn-light searching out glad justice,
            I am the center where all souls find peace.

            Caitlin Matthews in “Prayers for Healing’

Messenger

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old?  Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect?  Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

            Mary Oliver in “Thirst”

Thoughts on Marriage

Marriage is more than your love for each other.  It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God’s holy ordinance, through which God wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of time.  In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to God’s glory, and calls into the kingdom.  In your love you see only the heaven of your happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility toward the world and humanity.  Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal—it is a status, an office.  Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and humanity.  As you first gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God.  As high as God is above humanity, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love.  It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

Mozart, for Example

All the quick notes
Mozart didn’t have time to use
before he entered the cloud-boat

are falling now from the beaks
of the finches
that have gathered from the joyous summer

into the hard winter
and, like Mozart, they speak of nothing
but light and delight,

though it is true, the heavy blades of the world
are still pounding underneath.
And this is what you can do too, maybe,

if you live simply and with a lyrical heart
in the cumbered neighborhoods or even,
as Mozart sometimes managed to, in a palace,

offering tune after tune,
making some hard-hearted prince
prudent and kind, just by being happy.

            Mary Oliver from “Thirst”

The reality that is present to us and in us:
call it Being…Silence.
And the simple fact that by being attentive,
by learning to listen
(or recovering the natural capacity to listen)
we can find ourself engulfed in such happiness
that it cannot be explained:
the happiness of being at one with everything
in that hidden ground of Love
for which there can be no explanations….
May we grow in grace and peace,
and not neglect the silence that is printed
in the center of our being.
It will not fail us.

            Thomas Merton in “Prayers for Healing”

Making the House Ready for the Lord

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
still nothing is as shining as it should be
for you.  Under the sink, for example, is an
uproar of mice—it is the season of their
many children.  What shall I do?  And under the eaves
and through the walls the squirrels
have gnawed their ragged entrances—but it is the season
when they need shelter, so what shall I do?  And
the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
what shall I do?  Beautiful is the new snow falling
in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
up the path to the door.  And still I believe you will
come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
that I am really speaking to you whenever I say,
as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.

            Mary Oliver from “Thirst”

O God, give me, I pray Thee,
light on my right hand
and light on my left hand
and light above me
and light beneath me,
O Lord, increase light within me
and give me light
and illuminate me.

            Ascribed to Mohammad from “Prayers for Healing”

            From the depths of holy silence, I give thanks for the joy and energy of life.  May all beings enjoy the vitality of their existence.

            I remember all who suffer great pain and long-term illness, especially [names].  May the Healer of Hurts breathe balm and restoration into all wounded lives.

            May all negative, angry and harmful attributes, especially my……..that I harbor within me be transformed into new and available life.

            The dance of a Summer day calls my steps: may I respond to the rhythm and melody of its music.

Creator, I speak to YOU from within my Soul and within my Body, asking that I may be an instrument of peace.  May others join together to honor Earth Mother, to keep the skies clean and clear, that She may be nourished.  May all creatures of the Earth benefit from the water which is Her blood, flowing through her arteries and veins on the surface and within Her body.  May pure water nourish the vegetation, from the tiniest invisible form to the most mighty of all trees on Earth.  May all creatures within the soil, within the water, on the land, in the trees and in the air prosper.  May They and We be of service to Her good health for future generations.

Creator, shine through us as we join in Your Spirit.  Help us remember, one by one, that we are created of the Earth, and powered by Your Spirit.  In this remembering, our separation will end and we will unite in Spirit to restore and care for our Earth Mother, all Her life forms and ourselves.

Summer is, indeed, a beautiful season.  Yet it is also a busy one.  Vacations, social engagements, outdoor concerts, and the usual press of work and laundry and errands and….

Summer whirls by.  It is July already, when May seems to have been yesterday.  How can we enjoy our lives when they are led at such a pace?  What will you remember of this summer?  If you are too tired to watch a firefly on a sultry night, too busy to notice that a favorite flower has bloomed, too much in transit to enjoy conversation with a friend—what will you have to hold, to treasure, in winters to come?  For we cannot savor what we rush through.  Let some things slide this summer.  Don’t worry about them.  You will never remember if you did the laundry, and you will never forget the fragrance of new roses.

Patricia Monaghan “The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit”

Hey!
She has a light step, don’t she?
Hey! She has some fine clothes!
Hey!  She dances down richness!
Look at those bracelets shake!
Her bracelets like water!
Water, like the bracelets of Oshun.
Dance when she shake those bracelets, dance and call Oshun.  She can do what the doctor
can’t.  She can heal with just cold water.  Call Oshun.
All her answers are wise ones.
Call Oshun.  She always say:
Live, my children, live without fear.

            African chant to the goddess of love

There is only one way we can completely heal the injuries life brings us, and that is to live and love without fear.  To live is to endure pain, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.  But we can choose how we react to that pain.  If we clench ourselves in fear of more pain, we live cramped and unsatisfying lives—and we will not prevent ourselves from being hurt.  If we open ourselves to life, we will still feel pain, but we will feel joy and pleasure as well.

We have, each of us, deep fears within us that prevent us from totally grasping life and its many joys.  Discovering and healing those painful areas is the work of a lifetime.  But without doing that work, we will never truly live.

            Patricia Monaghan from “The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit”

Malheur Before Dawn

An owl sound wandered along the road with me.
I didn’t hear it—I breathed it into my ears.

Little ones at first, the stars retired, leaving
polished little circles on the sky for awhile.

Then the sun began to shout from below the horizon.
Throngs of birds campaigned, their music a tent of sound.

From across a pond, out of the mist,
one drake made a V and said its name.

Some vast animal of air began to rouse
from the reeds and lean outward.

Frogs discovered their national anthem again.
I didn’t know a ditch could hold so much joy.

So magic a time it was that I was both brave and afraid.
Some day like this might save the world.

            William Stafford from “Even in Quiet Places”

My mother is the South Cloud.
My father is the North Cloud.

I was born in the sky.
I am the Woman of Clouds.

I have come to you because
you are needed in this world.

Trees need you to bring them to life.
People need you to comfort them.

Don’t refuse what I ask of you.
Believe me.  The world calls out to you.

Achomawi song, Northern California

We marvel at the immense variety of snowflakes.  Human beings are infinitely more diverse and unique, yet we take this beautiful individuality for granted.  Without each individual, the world is a less complex and fascinating place.  From the great playful creativity of the goddess, you were created.  Would the goddess waste her time?

We are, each of us, utterly unique in this world.  Each of us is a special child of the earth, a constellation of talents and beauties and desires that has never been seen before.

Each of us is beautiful and necessary.  The world needs us, each of us.  If we treated both ourselves and each other as if we truly believed that, would this world not be a better place?

            Patricia Monaghan from “The Goddess Companion”

Winter is approaching.  Autumn’s days shift:  one day another brief fling at summer, the next a prediction of cold darkness yet to come.  In this mutable season, we can learn to appreciate each day as it comes.  When the sun breaks out, and blue sky shines above the golden trees, cast off all cares and enjoy the beauty around you.  When the chill returns, gather with friends near the hearth and relish their company.

Each season has its special pleasures, its special challenges.  Autumn’s is the challenge of spontaneity, of being alive and aware in the present moment rather than living in a future that may never come.  If we cannot outrun winter, we can store up memories of brilliant autumn days to warm us in the darker times to come.

            Patricia Monaghan from “The Goddess Companion”

The great psychologist Carl Jung once said that the purpose of humanity is to help the world become conscious.  One of the ways we do this is through sanctifying the spaces we occupy.  Our homes, our gardens, our workplaces:  all these can become sacred spaces, if we purposefully and carefully arrange them to be so.

            Such wisdom traditions as Chinese feng shui codify the knowledge that we are sensitive to our surroundings.  Cluttered and ugly surroundings take their toll on us.  We are less focused, and far less happy, than we could be.  Creating sacred space means, simply, paying attention to the arrangement of our surroundings, and treating the inanimate occupants with the respect we would give guests in our home.  Even our pots and pans can become sacred tools, if used with intention and respect.  Our world is already sacred; we only need acknowledge that this is so.

May God bless us not with clean air alone,
But the will to keep our air clean.

May God bless us not with a vision of a healthy planet alone,
But with the will to do all in our power to restore and maintain our planet’s health.

May God bless us not with a change of heart in the
great world leaders alone to save our planet,
But with a change in our own heart to use our own power to save the planet.

May the blessing of God not bring to us saints alone,
But make of us saints greater than any we imagine.

            Daniel J. McGill from “Prayers for Healing”

Everywhere the transformation will look different, just as spring comes to each spot with subtly different signs and vestiges.  In city and suburb, in poor nation and rich nation, tropic and farm belt and pole, environmental hope will appear in various disguises.  Some places it will come as a sleek new bus or a bike path; in others as a cleaned-up slum, a repaired school, a cry of joy at the birth of a baby girl.  Here in the Appalachians, on some not-too-distant day, I will wake up and drink a glass of fresh milk from a neighbor’s small dairy; that night I will hear a pack of wolves howling from Buck Hill.  And it will raise the hair on my arms, and it will fill me up with hope.  Hope that the greenhouse effect might someday abate.  Hope that this society might be starting the climb down from overdevelopment.  Not hope that everything will be fine—everything isn’t going to be fine.  But hope that the sky is brightening a little in the East.

The springtime of the
epoch
comes in the tender shoots
of green hope
pushing up through discouragement.
Bitter winds shake
our branches even as our
poignant grace of
blossoms burst open into joy.

As epoch’s spring and
promise

is not without storm and shaking,

but the sunny assurance of daffodils
can hold us steady

till the might of our broad river
is overhung with green
summer
ease.

            Nancy-Rose Meeker from “Prayers for a Thousand Years”

The world is fast losing its soul
but you don’t have to surrender yours.
You don’t have to live on a mechanical globe.
You don’t have to tame your deep-forest passion.
You don’t have to suppress your radiant beauty.

Live your joy,
Go against the grain.
Don’t be made timid by worried rejection.
Let nature’s curious wisdom fill you.
Let the world’s mystical heritage guide you.
Paint your canvases,
play your tunes.

Give your all to the words that are born from you.
You father and your father’s heaven
will never abandon you
but always love
the scintilla of your spirit.

            Thomas Moore  “Prayers for a Thousand Years”

My Lord, supreme being of this universe,
let my lips sing the praise of the goodness surrounding me
not affected by the evil that is so rampant,
let my heart glow with the love for them who show affection for me,
and acceptance for others who do not.

Give me the strength to continue that which I do best,
that I may add an iota to the transformation of this planet,
let me have the spark to ignite others in joining me,
the wisdom to choose the causes that I should support,
that I may join others in the effort to make this earth a better place to live,
my grain of sand being one in the new edifice,
that I could say at the end of the day
that I was all that I could be for my dear ones,
for others not as fortunate as I have been,
and for this planet,
being here for much more than just myself,
even when it was not always easy.

            Tsvi Meidav  from “Prayers for a Thousand Years”

Now is the time
To climb up the mountain
And reason against habit,
Now is the time.

Now is the time,
to renew the barren soil of nature
Ruined by the winds of tyranny.
Now is the time.

Now is the time,
To commence the litany of hope,
Now is the time….

Now is the time,
To give me roses, not to keep them
For my grave to come,
Give them to me while my heart beats,
Give them today
While my heart yearns for jubilee,
Now is the time….

            Mzwakhe Mbuli from “Life Prayers”

Take time to listen to the birds,
the waves,
the wind.

Take time to breathe in the air,
the earth,
the ocean.

Take time to be still,
to be silent,
to allow God to fill you up
with deep peace and love.

            Mairead Maguire, Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize, Community of the Peace People, Ireland from “Prayers for a Thousand Years”

We slow to the world,
take a deep breath,
another,
and yet another.
We allow our spiritual gravity to bring us to rest
and find our place.
Remembering bubbles up.
We know this place.

Here
we listen to our children,
laugh from the bottom of our belly,
heal and are healed by our neighbors,
touch the ones we love.
We recognize delight.

In being restored we remember
No effort is complete without the essential ingredient of sacred rest.

            Wayne Muller from “Prayers for a Thousand Years”

Now is the time
To climb up the mountain
And reason against habit.
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To renew the barren soil of nature
Ruined by the winds of tyranny.
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To commence the litany of hope.
Now is the time.

Now is the time
To give me roses, not to keep them
For my grave to come.
Give them to me while my heart beats,
Give them today
While my heart yearns for jubilee.
Now is the time…

Mzwakhe Mbuli, performance artist and activist, South Africa
From “Prayers for a Thousand Years”