Poem: Heaven in Ordinary
Because high heaven made itself so low
That I might glimpse it through a stable door,
Or hear it bless me through a hammer blow,
And call me through the voices of the poor,
Unbidden now, its hidden light breaks through
Amidst the clutter of the every day,
Illuminating things I thought I knew,
Whose dark glass brightens, even as I pray.
Then this world's walls no longer stay my eyes,
A veil is lifted likewise from my heart,
The moment holds me in its strange surprise,
The gates of paradise are drawn apart,
I see his tree, with blossom on its bough,
And nothing can be ordinary now.
-------------Malcolm Guite (1957- ), English priest, theologian, musician, and poet
Proverb:
“But our commonwealth is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
----------Philippians 3:20, from today’s epistle
Painting: Detail from Tapestry of Saints, John Nava, Cathedral of Our Lady, Los Angeles
Prayer:
Loving One, who broods over us as a mother hen,
we ask that your commonwealth come on Earth,
and peace and equity reign throughout this land
and all lands.
Help us to never surrender to contempt,
but instead to believe
that we can choose good over evil,
that we can deny the power
of resentment, division, and indifference.
Help us to lay willing hands to the plow of justice
as we seek to turn the soil of suffering
into a field of hope.
Help us to plant seeds of compassion with each step,
and make our hearts the fertile ground
to bring the common good to life.
Help us to tend the tender shoots of faith
in You and in each other, Beloved Savior,
to create a verdant field of witness
to the love we bear each other without distinction.
Merciful God, lift up those who struggle,
comfort those who mourn,
soothe those who are anxious,
gathered under your mothering wings.
Amen.
------------------ Leslie Barnes Scoopmire
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