“THE LORD’S PRAYER”

Our Father, who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

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“QUIT BEING A LEMON!!”

“Quit being a lemon and make some lemonade in these straitened times,” a journalist urged in a recent article.  Instead of whining and complaining we must be on the alert for what is lovely around us.  Instead of blaming people and events and falling into a ’poor me’ mode, we must consciously look for the good and the beautiful.  Can we risk believing there is always something lovely even in the most dire circumstances?  St. Paul, writing in a time when he was experiencing very straitened circumstances indeed, being in prison, urged the Philippians to ‘think on things that are true and lovely and gracious’ (Phil 4:8).

It has seldom been more important than the present time for us to awaken to the beauty all around us.  Now, when we are hugely , and rightly, concerned at the devastation of our world, the destruction of habitat and the loss of species, when we rage against the greed of those who recklessly pursue policies that spell disaster on communities, now is the critical time to stand by one tree, to listen to one bird, to look, really look, at one flower.  We must give time to relish and savour that which touches us deeply, be it a song, a poem, a painting or the little dog of my neighbour.

It takes a poet like Patrick Kavanagh to look beyond the mud and slush and see the beauty of a cut-away bog.  Others could talk disparagingly of ‘the bog’ but for Kavanagh it was the place of an encounter with the ‘beautiful, beautiful God…’

May be we can only recognise the beauty surrounding us when we welcome the beauty that lies deep within us.  We are created in God’s image yet how seldom we acknowledge our own beauty.  “I give you thanks that I am wonderfully made,” sang the psalmist (Ps 139).  It is a song of praise and gratitude to the One who made us and delights in us.

Because it always comes to us as a gift beauty calls us to see, to pause, to be still and receive.  The sadness is that we become so busy and bothered about the trials and difficulties that beset us, that we seldom give time and space to welcome the gift.  The trials are real, the pain of life is deep, but lurking in the darkest corner is the very gift we need just now.  God invites us to ready ourselves, to be alert and open to receive these blessings.

We may not have a garden, or live near a park, or a bog, but when when we look for and wait for beauty it will come to us.  Our spirits lift as in the most delicate and  unexpected ways we are touched by the beauty which up till now had remained hidden from us.  Our very existence is illuminated by what is beautiful.  We are changed,  our eyes are opened, so that, even as Mother Teresa did in the slums of Calcutta, we too are enabled to  ‘do something beautiful for God.’  So, how about beginning with that glass of lemonade?

(by permission-The Columban Missionaries’ magazine -  ‘Far East’ Jul/Aug. 2010)

 

God our Father,
open our eyes to see your hand at work
in the splendour of creation,
in the beauty of human life.
Touched by your hand our world is holy.
Help us to cherish the gifts that surround us,
to share your blessings with our brothers and sisters,
and to experience the joy of life in your presence

Amen.

(Alt. Opening Prayer, Weekdays in Ordinary time, Week 17)

 

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Most gracious and merciful God,
  as a seed grows silently in the ground,
  and the yeast rises in the dough,
 so may your Holy Spirit fill me.
  As I look at the needs of those around me
 and wonder how I can help,
 conscious of my own meagre resources,
 may I never forget that you do not choose those who can-
 you empower those who cannot.
 To you be all the glory and honour now and forever. Amen

Used by permission Women’s World Day of Prayer