A member of a book group I belong to recently brought this reflection to one of our meetings:
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
In all things we are quite naturally impatient
to reach the end without delay.
We would like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability
- and that may take a very long time.
And so it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually:
let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say
what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give the Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense
and incomplete.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
O Lord!
Need I be counseled to patience with you
when you're so endlessly patient
with my sluggish, dawdling, foot-dragging ways?
The wise and steady pace of your work,
your constant pursuit of my heart and my soul,
your indulging my foolish and stubborn delay:
all this is pure gift, unmerited grace,
a mystery of kindness, my reason for hope,
the mercy that nurtures my growth in your grace...
I thank you then, O Lord,
for the slow and patient ways
you Spirit moves within me:
make me attentive to your presence
and the way your gentle hand
leads and shapes me in your love...
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.
Lead Me, Guide Me by the Notre Dame Folk Choir
If a video doesn't appear below, click here!
Lead me, guide me along the way;
For if You lead me, I cannot stray;
Lord, let me walk each day with Thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
For if You lead me, I cannot stray;
Lord, let me walk each day with Thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
I am weak, and I need Thy strength and power
To help me over my weakest hour;
Help me through the darkness Thy face to see,
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
Help me tread in the paths of righteousness;
Be my aid when Satan and sin oppress.
I am putting all my trust in Thee,
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
I am lost, if you take your hand from me;
I am blind, without Thy Light to see;
Lord, just always let me Thy servant be,
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.
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