I know I said I was taking a break, but... the first reading at mass this morning included some of my favorite words from scripture, "Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God..." And I recalled a prayer I began writing in 2008 and which has expanded over 16 years to this present version...
Comfort my soul, Lord:
comfort my heart, my mind
and my imagination...
Comfort me in my dreams,
in my fears and my worries,
in my memories
and in my hopes...
in my family,
among my friends and neighbors,
- among all the peoples of the world...
Speak comfortably
to the young and the old,
and in the lives of the lonely
and brokenhearted,
and in the brokenness of lives undone,
unhinged, unloved...
Speak a word of comfort, Lord,
to those who are confused and confounded,
to those who struggle to accept
the challenges and problems
weighing so heavy on their thoughts...
Speak a word of comfort, Lord,
to those who find it hard to hope,
those who flirt with despair,
to those who need a sign from you
and from those around them
to kindle the fire of hope
within their hearts...
Speak a word of comfort, Lord,
to those who need work
and who live in fear
of not finding it...
to the sick, Lord,
to those in chronic pain
be the kind Physician of their souls
with your Spirit...
and refresh their trust and hope
in you and in the life you promise,
life for ever...
to the grieving,
to those whose losses
darken sunny days,
those whose hearts still mourn
in the midst of others' joy...
to those who've been abandoned
by the world, by the government,
by their neighbors
to those who feel abandoned
by the church:
console, challenge, and strengthen those
by our side and in our hearts...
may your voice level
may your truth make straight the paths
of those who've lost their way,
and may your word make smooth
the rough and tumble places
where we stumble and we fall...
In the quiet of my prayer, Lord,
speak comfortably
in my heart and mind and soul...
and, taking it to heart,
Amen.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her,
that her iniquity is pardoned.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert
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