As hints of spring warm the air and melt the snow, this poem from Mary Oliver captures almost perfectly where my soul is at this point in my life. I offer it without any additional lines from my pen - I hope it might touch you as it does me...
3/7/26
NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 3/7
I wonder what you think, Lord,
as millions this weekend conspire
as millions this weekend conspire
to change by sixty minutes
our watches, clocks, devices and gadgets,
pretending to gain an hour of light
by cheating the night to save the day...
An artifice, Lord, that's all time is,
our meager, contrived and feeble attempt
to measure what can not be clocked,
to track what slips through open hands
as the wind upon a breeze...
Who can save up tine for tomorrow?
Who can stay the sun at its rising
or stall the phases of the moon?
Who can lengthen a sunbeam's reach
or shorten midnight's shadows?
You alone, eternal God,
you alone are the Lord of time:
you caused the sun to rule in the day
and the moon to rule by night...
Only you, in the dark of night,
rose up for the day that has no end;
yours alone is the light that saves,
the glory no night can eclipse...
We can change our clocks but not the time
for yours alone are night and day;
so, change our hearts with mercy's touch
as we wait the Day that has no end...
Protect us, Lord, while we're awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
God of Day and God of Darkness
by Marty Haugen
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God
of day and God of darkness,
Now we stand before the night;
As the shadows stretch and deepen,
Come and make our darkness bright.
All creation still is groaning
For the dawning of your might,
When the Sun of peace and justice
Fills the earth with radiant light.
Still the nations curse the darkness,
Still the rich oppress the poor;
Still the earth is bruised and broken
By the ones who still want more.
Come and wake us from our sleeping,
So our hearts cannot ignore
All your people lost and broken,
All your children at our door.
Show us Christ in one another,
Make us servants strong and true.
Give us all your love of justice
So we do what you would do.
Let us call all people holy,
Let us pledge our lives anew,
Make us one with all the lowly,
Let us all be one in you.
You shall be the path that guides us,
You the light that in us burns;
Shining deep within all people,
Yours the love that we must learn,
For our hearts shall wander restless
'Til they safe to you return;
Finding you in one another,
We shall all your face discern.
Praise to you in day and darkness,
You our source and you our end;
Praise to you who love and nurture us
As a father, mother, friend.
Grant us all a peaceful resting,
Let each mind and body mend,
So we rise refreshed tomorrow,
Hearts renewed to Kingdom tend.
Gentle Father, Loving Mother,
Jesus, Brother, Savior, Friend;
Spirit of all grace and power,
May we praise you without end.
Grant us all a peaceful resting,
Let each mind and body mend,
So we rise refreshed tomorrow,
Hearts renewed to Kingdom tend.
UPDATE: January 6 Memorial Plaque
This is an update of my post on January 6, 2026.
This is the plaque honoring those who put their lives on the line in defense of the the members of Congress and the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, five years ago. It had been sitting in storage for three years, waiting for House Speaker Mike Johnson to find the time to get it hung. (Click on the graphic above for a larger image.)
By comparison: on his first day in office in his second term, Donald Trump pardoned nearly 1600 rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 and imperiled the lives of those guarding the nation's seat of government. Trump has referred to the January 6 event as a "day of love."
The plaque was finally installed today, March 7, 2026 - not because the Speaker relented but because the Senate voted to install it on the Senate side of the Capitol.
Pause for Prayer: SATURDAY 3/7
3/6/26
NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 3/6
For several years I've posted a weekly Lenten series on a selected topic. This year, on Fridays, I'll be featuring songs we sing to honor the Cross of Jesus. (Here are links to the first and second posts in this series.) The very fact that we sing of the Cross on which Jesus died is a testimony to our faith and belief that in his suffering we find our healing and our life... Tonight's selection is The Cross of Jesus by fellow Boston priest and friend, Francis Patrick O'Brien.
I suggest you pray with the song first, and then move on to my Night Prayer...
The Cross of Jesus by
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Come, O God, renew your people,
we who long to see your face.
Strengthen hearts that have grown feeble;
fill our lives with truth and grace.
Only you can win our freedom;
only you can bring us peace.
Only in the cross of Jesus
will the captives find release.
Deep within create a new heart;
melt away the winter chill.
Help us now to make a new start,
help us now to know your will.
Washed in waters of forgiveness,
cleansed in water of new birth,
Lead us to the cross of Jesus,
bringing life to all the earth.
In the darkness that surrounds us
we have lost you from our sight.
Even though your love has found us,
we embrace the powers of night.
Scatter now our deepest darkness.
Guide our hearts into the light.
Join us to the cross of Jesus,
help us set our living right.
Call us forth to walk in justice,
rescue us from sin and grave.
Through the power of your Spirit,
breathe in us the breath that saves.
Strengthen us in our communion,
one in Word and cup and bread.
Here within the cross of Jesus,
all who hunger will be fed.
Night Prayer
Your Cross, O Lord,
is a sign of contradiction
and only those who follow you,
only those who trust in you,
only those who love you
can see between your outstretched arms
the mercy we all thirst for,
the pardon we all need,
the freedom we all long for,
the promise we all hope in,
the lasting peace that's ours,
and the life that flows so freely
from your wounds and your pierced side,
from your sacrifice of all you had,
poured out for us in love,
that in your death
we might have life
and have it to the full...
You emptied out yourself, Lord,
gave your life that we might live;
on the Cross you tasted death
that we might all be born again...
May we glory in your Cross
and in its shadow find our light;
in your surrender, lift us up
in your redeeming, loving arms...
Protect us, Lord, while we're awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
Perhaps you'd like to pray with the song again...
The Cross of Jesus
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Come, O God, renew your people,
we who long to see your face.
Strengthen hearts that have grown feeble;
fill our lives with truth and grace.
Only you can win our freedom;
only you can bring us peace.
Only in the cross of Jesus
will the captives find release.
Deep within create a new heart;
melt away the winter chill.
Help us now to make a new start,
help us now to know your will.
Washed in waters of forgiveness,
cleansed in water of new birth,
Lead us to the cross of Jesus,
bringing life to all the earth.
In the darkness that surrounds us
we have lost you from our sight.
Even though your love has found us,
we embrace the powers of night.
Scatter now our deepest darkness.
Guide our hearts into the light.
Join us to the cross of Jesus,
help us set our living right.
Call us forth to walk in justice,
rescue us from sin and grave.
Through the power of your Spirit,
breathe in us the breath that saves.
Strengthen us in our communion,
one in Word and cup and bread.
Here within the cross of Jesus,
all who hunger will be fed.
Pause for Pra6yer: FRIDAY 3/6
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| Image source: Communio |
In Lent we prepare to remember the suffering and death of Jesus, preparing to celebrate his resurrection. From the moment he was conceived in Mary's womb, the heart of Jesus beat for us in love, compassion and mercy until that same heart stopped when he sacrificed everything that we might have life and have it to the full. Even now, the heart of the Risen Jesus beats for us and will for all eternity.
The first Friday of every month is a day on which Catholics have a custom of praying to the Heart of Jesus.
For your 10 minutes of Lenten prayer today, spend some time with this beautiful Litany of the Sacred Heart.
In the first section of the litany, you might ponder which attributes of Jesus' heart are the ones you need the most right now in your life...
In the next seven sections of the litany are a number of titles or names for the Heart of Jesus: which of these names reaches out to your heart and its needs today?
In the next to the last section are phrases that speak of Christ's love for us, especially in his suffering and death: how might those phrases have Lenten meaning for you this year?
And in the last section, we pray to love as the Heart of Jesus has taught us to love...
Find a place for prayer... sit in the silence... be still... and know that the Heart of Jesus is with you...
Let us pray...
Litany of the Sacred Heart
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
So loving
So humble
So gentle
So compassionate
So faithful
So wise
So patient
So steadfast
So tender
So spacious
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
God’s joy
God’s shalom
Harp of the Trinity
Wingbeat of the Spirit
Breath of God
Five-petaled rose
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Womb of justice
Birthplace of peace
Our dearest hope
Longing of our lives
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Freely flowing fountain
Spring of grace
Freshet of forgiveness
Merciful river
Mystical dew
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Warmth of our hearts
Transforming fire
Cosmic furnace
Enflamer of hearts
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Heart of evolution
Beginning and ending
Center of all
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Garden of virtues
Mystical dew
Table and food
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Our refuge
Our shelter
Our comfort
Our rest
Our welcoming breast
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Wounded by love
Pierced by our cruelty
Broken by our hardness
Mystic winepress
Poured out as gift
Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!
Have mercy, gracious heart,
Give us gratefulness
Teach us tenderness
Let us learn to love.
Hear our prayer!
- Wendy Wright
Let us pray...
Lord of all our hearts,
open wide your Heart of mercy
and refresh us in this season of Lent
with the peace that flows from the font of your love.
Gracious Lord,
hear and answer our prayer.
Amen.
3/5/26
NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 3/5
I was thinking today, Lord,
of a disappointment I recently experienced...
Well, I wasn't so much thinking about it
as much as I was dwelling on it,
stewing over it, not letting it go...
And then, in a moment of grace,
I realized how small was my disappointment,
small and even minute, when weighed
with the all the blessings and joys,
I can count as gifts from your generous hand...
In that moment of grace I was able to see
how much I have to be grateful for:
my many reasons to thank you, Lord...
My cup runneth over, again and again,
and the jug of blessings from which you pour
seems always full - and full to the brim...
Even, Lord, in the hardest of times,
there's always a reason - and more than one -
for me to give you my praise and thanks...
There's always, always, always, Lord,
something for me to be grateful for...
Even upon the loss of a gift,
even the loss of a precious gift,
there's the gift itself to remember and cherish,
to dwell on and treasure with gratitude,
for the blessing and grace it brought to my life,
to my heart and my soul - and my memories...
All good gifts come from you, O Lord,
given, freely, from your hands to mine:
on loan to me as signs of your love,
entrusted to me to care for and keep
in the mystery of your great mercy...
Help me see beyond my disappointments,
beyond my losses, large and small,
help me see with eyes of faith and love
how kind and generous you are to me
and have been and will always be...
And help me remember, Lord:
there is always, always, always
something for me to be grateful for...
Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake
and watch over me while I sleep
that awake, I might keep watch with you
and asleep rest in your peace...
Amen.
Grateful For by Natalie Layne
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It’s not always easy to see the good
When it doesn’t look the way I think it should
I know, I know what it feels like
When a smile don’t feel right
But even the stress of a million cares
Can’t cover the blessings You put everywhere
It don’t take rose-colored glasses
To see the gold in the madness
I just gotta take time
Slow down
Take a moment to see it now
The little things are what it’s all about
What it’s all about
I’ll take a look around
There’s something to be grateful
Something to be grateful for
It’s waiting to be found
Underneath the surface
Everything I’m searching for
Couldn’t find it in me
But I found it in you
I’m learning to see
'Cause You’re teaching me to
Take a look around
There’s something to be grateful
Something to be grateful
Something to be grateful for
Oh, grateful for Oh ,grateful for Oh, grateful for
For Your mercy, the morning light
For all of the ways that love has changed my life
I know You’re behind all the goodness
Don’t let me forget it
When the sun don’t shine
In the dead of night
If the tears keep rolling from my eyes
I know
You’re always by my side
That’s how I know I'm gonna be alright
Refrain
In the morning, I’ll be grateful
In the evening, I’ll be grateful
'Cause I know that You are faithful
You are faithful,
You are faithful
In the good times,
I’ll be grateful
In the hard nights,
I’ll be grateful
'Cause I know that
You are faithful
You are faithful,
You are faithful
Refrain
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