Lord, still us this today and in this Advent Season – keep us wide awake in these days of waiting. Take from us our anxieties and our preoccupations, our distractions and our despair. Let us be empty in this time before, awaiting your coming with empty hands, and open hearts…
Lord, prepare us for your coming. Fill us with the hope of your judgement, and a longing for your justice. Let our hope and our prayer be always for this broken creation of which we are part. Have mercy on all who suffer, human or animal. Help us to bring the good news of your coming, the comfort of hope, the joy of this new kind of waiting…
Amen
- with thanks to Mike F of The Mercy Blog
One evening last week, I was in our contemplative prayer group at church, when, towards the end of the session, I was suddenly, as I've described it to myself 'hi-jacked' by a memory of an item which I'd read in the paper earlier in the day: a particularly horrible example of pure, gratuitous violence towards a poor, helpless animal, the which defies all belief and about which I simply can't bring myself to give any more details here. There followed a fraught few minutes whilst I tried alternately to a) push the distraction aside, or b) give it to God, which last unfortunately and again without giving any details (shudders) seemed unavoidably to involve 're-living it.' All clever theological explanations seemed pretty irrelevant just then, and to be honest, pretty feeble, too. We're back to that evergreen topic of theodicy 'How could you, God?'
I've since re-commbobulated myself, so to speak...just, and can see, I think, that this struggle was likely the latest in a series of 'answers,' to a prayer I made leading on from what I brought out of retreat. Why I should be surprised, I don't know. I do think prayer should come with a health warning, though. Do Not Be Surprised If You Get What You Ask For.
So the petitions in the prayer "Have mercy on all who suffer, human or animal..." resonates with me as we begin Advent.
Over on A Weeble's Wonderings Avila reflects on the ever-present struggle with life-work balance and the need to know when and to press those 'recharge' buttons. I chose it for personal reasons; thanks be to God their situation is not my own although some of the issues mentioned do touch several loved ones close to home. It was the final paragraph that spoke to me however. The 'Who Am I? What Am I?' question and my tendency to define myself solely in relation to the role (I perceive) other people see me in and to whether I shape up to that perception, has been around now as long as I can remember. We Are Improving slowly....which is good...yet still very much a Work In Progress...
I started with the title 'Who am I? What am I?' - when we can no longer answer these about ourselves, rather than just in relation to other people or roles, then it is a sign we need to find respite, and to find ourselves again.
- A Weeble's Wonderings - Who Am I? What Am I?
"Do Not Be Surprised If You Get What You Ask For..." Oh, yes! So you're another who has those experiences, are you? I might have guessed. For me, the worst is when you have to get up in the night, and you just get back into bed when you remember one of those incidents of cruelty. It's at times like that I am reminded of just what prayer is for, after all. Thank you for this, truly...
Posted by: MikeF | November 28, 2011 at 04:52 PM