Every year, early in December, my ordination classmates get together for dinner. Last night there were seven of us at the table. We first met at Cardinal O'Connell Seminary in Jamaica Plain in September of 1965, right out of high school. We studied together for 8 years, were ordained in 1973 and have served as priests of the archdiocese of Boston for five decades. We've known each other for 58 years... Here's what I prayed when I got home last night...
We've all changed so much, Lord
- and we haven't changed at all...
- but we've still got so much more to learn...
Our prayer is more genuine, honest and real
- when we make and find time to pray...
We're grown to be much more patient, Lord
- though still not as patient as you are with us...
Our take on life is more inclusive, expansive
- except for where it's still narrow and cramped...
We're grateful for all the gifts we've received
- blessed far beyond what our deeds deserve...
Keenly aware of the ways we've failed you
- we deepen our trust in your mercy and love...
Help us to learn to laugh at ourselves
- and to find the peace of your grace in our tears...
We are the clay, Lord and you are the potter,
we're all the work of your hands:
continue to form and shape in our lives
what waits to be changed by your love...
Amen.
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