NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 4/30

Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of poet, priest, protestor, prophet and peacemaker, Dan Berrigan, SJ.  I had the privilege of meeting Dan in 1996 when I was the pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in West Concord and the parish Social Action and Justice Committee hosted him for their annual speaker's event.  But long before meeting Dan, I had included these words of his in the worship aid for my first Mass in 1973:

When I hear bread breaking, 

I see something else; 

it seems almost as though 

God never meant us to do anything else.   

So beautiful a sound, 

the crust breaks up like manna 

and falls all over everything, 

and then we eat. 

Bread gets inside humans.  

It turns into what the experts call 

“formal glory of God.”  

But don’t let that worry you.   

Sometime in your life, 

hope you might see one starved man, 

the look on his face 

when the bread finally arrives.   

Hope you might have baked it or bought it 

– or even needed it yourself.  

For that look on his face, 

for your hands meeting his 

across a piece of bread, 

you might be willing to lose a lot, 

or suffer a lot 

– or die a little, even.   

Lord, 

I know that you are bread for me,

the bread of your word, 

of your wisdom and truth,

the bread of your presence

broken open for me

that I might have life

and have it to the full...

 

But how am I bread for others, Lord?

How do you want to break my crust

like a loaf of bread

to feed the mouths, the hearts, 

the minds and souls of those around me?

 

How might I break myself open,

as though that were the only purpose

for which you conceived of me, created me, 

knit me in my mother's womb 

and birthed me into the world

- to live and die

that others might have life

and have it to the full...

 

Break me like a loaf of bread, Lord,

and let pieces of me fall

over everyone and everything 

in my path...

 

Let the giving of your life, Lord,

mend and heal 

the brokenness in ours;

let the sharing of our crumbs

feed the hunger of the world 

until gathered all together

we are one again in you... 

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. 

 

In The Breaking of the Bread

  by Bob Hurd

 

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 In the breaking of the bread

 We have known Him; we have been fed.

 Jesus the stranger, Jesus the Lord,

 Be our companion, be our hope.

 

 Bread for the journey, strength for our years, 

 manna of ages of struggle and tears. 

 Cup of salvation, fruit of the land, 

 bless and receive now, the work of our hands. 

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