Sunday, February 27, 2011

Gracious are You


Gracious are You, O Lord,
forgiving us all our trespasses
and freeing us by your unconditional mercy,
not looking at our offenses against Your Law,
but at the little creatures that we are,
that Your hands have made,
wanting only to release us from our cages,
to fly out and breathe, free.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Open to us


O heavenly God hidden in weakness and rejection!

Becoming sin for us,
You have taken away our shame
and hold out to us in Your open, pierced palms
the Bread of Life,
yet we turn away to consume the bread of suffering, of tears,
we prefer to remain in our camps
and grumble at manna and quails!

Forty years are not enough
to purge us of our insane cravings,
we want to enter the land of promise
but without walking there on the only road possible,
following Jesus.

Instead,
pining after dead Moses whose body has disappeared,
we collect fragments of broken tablets
and stay in the wilderness.

Save us, O Lord!
Save Your people and bless Your inheritance!


Help us, heavenly Shepherd.
Guide us, quietly but firmly, back to the flock,
back to dwell close by the shepherd’s tents.

Make us meek again,
renew our childhood,
open to us the gates of repentance.

The original artwork in this post is by the hand of Darlene Slavujac Thau.
You can see more of her oil paintings, pastels and watercolors by clicking here
or on her link in the sidebar, Slavujac Biblical Artist.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Side by side

Lord, have mercy on us,
since we do not know ourselves,
we do not know whether or not we are obedient
or only pretending, since sin blinds us to its presence in us,
and we are often mistaken and led astray,
judging our brother when in fact,
it is we who have lost our way.

Grant us to meekly bow down before You
in Your Holy Church,
side by side with sinners just as bad as ourselves,
and not to presume
to cast out by our unthinking words and actions
those for whom Your Son has given His life;

and bring us all, the good and the bad, to repentance,
so that we may be found worthy of Your eternal Kingdom.

Glory to You, O Lord!
Glory to You!