Monday 5th Week of Easter 2011

 Monday 5th Week of Easter Mass readings are here

Thinking of the last verse from the Responsorial Psalm 115 :

May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Heaven is the heaven of the LORD,
but the earth he has given to the children of men.



 This is a lovely poem written in 1919 by e.e. cummings and seems a great way to start the week:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
 

i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?


and this extract from today's Gospel: John 14 : 21-26 prepares us for the coming of Pentecost, not that far away on June 12th.


"Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.

 
“I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
whom the Father will send in my name
he will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.”




Willem Vrelant, “Man Praying To the Holy Spirit” from the “Arenberg Hours” circa 1460s. Held in the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles, CA


Taize Song:


The song 'The Kingdom of God' from Taizé with video showing aspects of setting up  a Taize service. 
At the end of the video you see a reading from the Gospel.
Lyrics to songs below:
The kingdom of god is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom...


Veni Creator Spiritus

This is a lovely video of a traditional Gregorian hymn of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Church rewritten in contemporary style.


and another version of Veni Creator Spiritus : English lyrics follow below.


VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS

1. Come, Creator Spirit,
Father of the poor.
Come, light of our hearts.
Come, source of all life.

2. You our only comforter.
Come, give us your peace.
Guide our steps with your light.

3. When in stress you support us,
in trials you give us strength,
consolation in the midst of grief.

4. Eternal light, visit the hearts
you have created and fill our innermost
being. Heal our wounds and renew our strength,
quench our deepest thirst.
Fill us with your grace.
Come, fill us with your gifts.

5. Give us comfort. Give us life.
Give us joy that never ends.
Come! Come! Come Holy Spirit!

Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen.


Finally this from my inbox today will stay with me awhile....

A Cry of Anguish


Abraham Joshua Heschel


A person may go on pondering deeply in intense emotion about his needs, about the need of the moment. That is not yet prayer. 

Adding "in the name of God" to it will not make it prayer.

It is the cry of anguish which becomes a realization of God's mercy that constitutes prayer. 

It is the moment of a person in anguish forgetting his anguish and thinking of God and God's mercy. 

That is prayer.... It may last a moment but it is the essence of a lifetime.


Source: The Insecurity of Freedom

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