A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey-- Day 25: Saturday after the 3rd Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: Looking for Home

 

Poem: Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

--------------- Mary Oliver (1935- 2019) American poet, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize

 

 

Proverb:

“How great is the mercy of the Lord,
   and God’s forgiveness for those who return to God!”

---------------  Ecclesiasticus 17:29

 

Painting: Nine Travelers- Canada Geese, by Maynard Reece

      

 

Prayer: Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.

+In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
---------------- The Northumbria Community, from Celtic Daily Prayer Book One: The Journey Begins