Tag Archives: Christ

The Yoking (A Prayer for Unity, Christian and Otherwise)

We are caught inside this swath of love
this massive yoking
where we love one and are all-loving,
this massive yoking
where we love all and are love’s focusing.
Christ’s mystery and enigma,
this yoking love, this kingdom becoming.

But in moments beneath love’s canopy
when rain falls for the thirsty and light shines for the hungry,
ice cracks brutal over the cold and heat scorches dry over the brittle.
So we walk under blue skies and dark ceilings,
through fresh breezes and dusty drafts.
We know the burdening yoke and its blessings,
the rough harness and its relief.

These are our joys and challenges,
the balance of a life,
the yoga of loving.

Oh, that we would have eyes to see and ears to hear,
hearts to love and hearts to be loved,
for in you all things are light.

Amen, amen.

Inspired by Pope Francis and Fr. Beaver’s calls for Christian unity, and by Jason Gray’s “With Every Act of Love.”

 

Writer’s Prayer

Lord, you know my heart before I do, for in you it has been created. You know my joy and desire, my sadness and fear, and it is you who instills in me this inclination to write it out, you who inspires my songs, my lament and my celebration.

Let your Spirit inspire me again, and always, to write what you would have me share, to describe what you would have me realize, and to explain what you would have me understand. And when my words fail, when they are disordered and poorly chosen, bless the readers so that in spite of my messy page, they will glean what you wish them to find.

In this, and in all things, my gratitude abounds.

Our Happiness

“Our happiness doesn’t depend on somebody else’s action or on anything else.  It doesn’t depend on our success, but rather on the effort we’re willing to put into everything we do.  Even if people disappoint or fail us left and right, even if people turn against us, hurt us, lie about us, don’t understand us, even if they think they know everything about us and judge us unfairly, they can’t infringe upon our happiness.  True happiness means that we have a deep-seated peace and tranquillity that transcends all the difficulties of life, that cannot be disturbed by the chaos and warfare that might touch our lives.”

~ The Monks of New Skete (In the Spirit of Happiness, 312)