Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Today’s reading

Philippians 1:27-30

“Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that your are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).

Prayer

What can be worthy of you, who surrender yourself to the sole holy purpose under heaven, that for which all things cry out in longing? You, O Christ, are the fleshly face of the Invisible Darkness that haunts human souls. You are the near appearing of the Blessed Abyss no eye has seen and no name can capture. You come and show mortal eyes the the Immortal Beloved they could not have imagined.

You come fully given to that holy purpose. Shying not from suffering, you surrender yourself to the executioners scaffold. You reveal the persistent passion burning in the heart of the Eternal Wonder to bring all things home, to the heart of mercy from which they spring.

You are the fulfillment of our longing for that home we have never known but for which we have never ceased yearning. There, the anxious separation we feel among ourselves and from you is abolished. There, all things bask in the Infinite Love who fashioned them in delight. There, finally united with the Loving Mystery of whom you are the human face, we know the peace, the shalom, for which you made us.

And we know it even amid our dailiness. Sometimes, surely. In our common prayers and song, in the unity of our purpose to know you and make you known, in the smile and embrace expressing more than words can, there appears a unity of heart and endeavor in which we taste the sweetness of the final unity of all in you. Today, don’t let me forget that. But, like you, let me give myself to the unity of love and spirit, faith and hope you labor to fashion among us and all that is. Amen.