First Saturday May Prayers: Abiding In The Vineyard

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                                                              What Song Then?

When my life is alien soil
and a wind
like fear
makes restless ground
of all I have done--

what song, then,
to send out roots
that will drink the rain
that does not come--

how could I sing?

Watch light come
from dark and mist rise
from waters
as sky and shore
emerge out of night,
and a tree half-green,
half-bare.

Half-afraid of what is in me
(though God has called it good)
I sob over nothing,
desires I cannot name.

Sing us, they say,
a song you remember...
         
-Kathleen Norris.

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In the morning light, O God,
may I glimpse again your image deep within me
the threads of eternal glory
woven into the fabric of every man and woman.
Again may I catch sight of the mystery of the human soul
fashioned in your likeness
deeper than knowing
more enduring than time.
And in glimpsing these threads of light
amidst the weakness and distortions of my life
let me be recalled
to the strength and beauty deep in my soul.
Let me be recalled
to the strength and beauty of your image in every living soul. 

--J. Philip Newell

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Grow us slowly, persistently, and deeply, Lord
to be people who watch without distraction
listen without interruption
and stay put without inclination to flee.
Amen.

 Abba Anthony

One of The Desert Fathers