Prayers and Poems

Simeon the New Theologian

12/25/2020

We awaken in Christ’s body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ, He enters
my foot, and is infinitely me.
I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ, becomes all of Him
(for God is indivisibly
whole, seamless in His Godhood).
I move my foot, and at once
He appears like a flash of lightning.
Do my words seem blasphemous?—Then
open your heart to Him
and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
We wake up inside Christ’s body
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed
and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in His light
we awaken as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.

Symeon the New Theologian, “Hymn 15,” from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, ed. Stephen Mitchell (Harper Perennial: 1993), 38–39.

Meditations@cac.org

Stillness, by Thomas Keating

10/28/2020

Our true nature is stillness,
The Source from which we come.
. . . .
The deep listening of pure contemplation
Is the path to stillness.
All words disappear into It,
And all creation awakens to the delight of
Just Being.
—Thomas Keating, “Stillness”

Hildegard of Bingen

3/4/2020

Holy Spirit
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its sleep.

Hildegard of Bingen

Lead, kindly light

2/8/2020

Lead, kindly light, amidst the encircling gloom.
Lead thou me on.
The night is dark and I am far from home.
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet.
I do not ask to see the distant scene.
One step enough for me.

John Henry Newman

A fish cannot drown in water

7/23/2019

A fish cannot drown in water
By Mechthild of Magdeburg
(1207 - 1297)
English version by Jane Hirshfield

A fish cannot drown in water,
A bird does not fall in air.
In the fire of creation,
God doesn't vanish:
The fire brightens.
Each creature God made
must live in its own true nature;
How could I resist my nature,
That lives for oneness with God?

From ivan@poetry-chaikhana.com

Ethiopian Prayer

7/7/2019

May you be for us a moon of joy and happiness.
Let the young become strong
and the grown man maintain his strength,
the pregnant woman be delivered
and the woman who has given birth suckle her child.
Let the stranger come to the end of his journey
and those who remain at home dwell safely in their houses.
Let the flocks that go to feed in the pastures return happily.
May you be a moon of harvest and of calves.
May you be a moon of restoration and of good health.

Ethiopian Prayer

Charles de Foucauld

4/1/2019

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me
and in all your creatures--
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

Charles de Foucauld

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

12/31/2018

Eternal God,
in the evening of this year
I release the year to you.
Not a day, not a breath, have I been without you,
and I thank you.
All that I have done is done;
what I have not done I have not done.
All of my sins and errors you have forgiven,
and I release them.
All of my triumphs are your doing,
and I release them.
The year is gathered into your harvest,
to winnow and to save.
My life is gathered into your grace.
By your spirit in me may I learn from my mistakes,
grow from my wounds,
and deepen in gratitude for my gifts.
And now I turn to a new year,
grateful for your presence and your grace,
seeking only to live in harmony with your delight,
and open to your blessing and your leading.
Whether my journey onward be long or short,
it shall be in you, and I rejoice.
Amen.
Steve Garnaas-Holmes www.unfoldinglight.

Ibn At Arabi

1/26/2018

Listen, O beloved!
I am the reality of the world,
the center of the circle.
I am the parts and the whole.
I am the will holding Heaven and Earth in place.
And I have given you sight, only so you may see me.
Ibn At Arabi

Christ has no other hands but your hands

10/28/2016

Christ has no other hands but your hands
to do his work today;
no otherlips but your lips
to proclaim the good news;
no other love but your love
to give to the rejected, the lonely,
the persecuted, the marginalized.

Celtic Daily Prayer

Prayers and Poems

7/7/19 To those at our borders.
4/1/19 This is for serious surrender.
5/12/16 Praying the news.
2/28/14 Merton always speaks to me.
1/2/14 Starting the year with honesty.
2/27/13 Prayer of comfort.
7/9/12 Wonderful way to start and end the day.
6/6/12 Worth reading and trying to live by.
2/1/12 St. Brigid's Day
10/10/11 Said at Mom's committal service.
10/10/11 I added the 4th segment
10/7/11 A prayer from my mom's church papers.
8/17/11 A prayer of hope. Worth printing out.
7/21/11 I took the photo in Ireland this spring.
5/16/11 I sent this prayer to my mom today. She can't hear but she can read and she can pray.
4/28/11 A prayer of rebirth and hope
4/16/11 Prayer to Goddess Brigit and to St. Brigid
4/5/11 An evening poem
3/28/11 Poem of praise sent by a friend
3/18 Prayer of hope
3/10/11 Healing prayer from Iona
3/1/11 Parable from the Upanishads

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