The vocation to love is a wonderful thing; it is the only force that can truly transform the world.
~ Pope Benedict XVI
Generous Wisdom | Spacious Heart
Wise Heart Practices of Movement, Metaphor, Meditation & Meaning
The vocation to love is a wonderful thing; it is the only force that can truly transform the world.
~ Pope Benedict XVI
My days are measured in stacks of clothes and dishes,
morning passing into night through plates of food and containers of water.
I remember yesterday in the deliciousness of re-warmed stew;
I see the future in little pajama-shirts I will never fold again.
My children’s days are measured in the cards they will play
and the apple crisp they will enjoy – what they will get to do before bedtime –
not often in what they have done, rarely in what they are doing.
Questions: “When it’s time…?” Declarations: “When I’m older….”
My God’s days are measured in gifts of love,
sacrifices of sleep, of time, of self.
Beyond even the certainty of sunrise,
he packs together, shakes down, overflows.
Lord God, you are All in All. You have blessed us immeasurably with life and spirit. Continue to bless us with selfless love that we may care for one another as you care for us, and in so doing wash away our fears of abandonment, hopelessness, and failure. May we love each other with your sacrificial love so that our homes become sanctuaries, for in these gardens of forgiveness our children will grow and change the world. May we love and forgive without reserve, and may all people receive your grace, absorbing it like rain on well-watered ground. Open our hearts that we may know you in the midst of our conflicts. Bless us with your spirit that we may know the comfort of your peace. Be with us as we live moment to moment that we may understand humility and meekness. With a grateful heart, we ask all these things through Christ who strengthens us.
Amen.