Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 7/15

I came across this prayer which I posted a number of years ago. I'm no longer someone who's on call for times like this but I remember this moment clearly. All of us have folks like Andy in our lives - and on some days, we might feel just like Andy... 

 

Andy's* in a hospital, Lord:

he asked to see a priest

and I was called
and pleased to help...

Andy's in a locked unit

but it's his fears and his anxiety,

his loneliness and memories,

his doubts and his confusion

his panic and his lethargy

that truly keep him locked inside

his thoughts and his illusions:

a prisoner of his story,

one he's not sure how to tell...  

In our conversation, 

Andy showed himself to be:
a man of hopelessness and faith,

a firm believer filled with doubt,

a pilgrim with nowhere to go,
a penitent in search of peace,

a lonely man just waiting

for one who'll understand

and with patience hear him out

and not dismiss him as a fool

or scorn his earnest piety...

I couldn't do much, Lord,

but I was pleased to spend some time
to listen and reverence Andy
and his story and his tears

and his unique, personal

and holy creed...

We talked about you, Lord,

and Andy told me he fears

you may have forgotten him

or even abandoned him...

I did my best to assure him

this certainly isn't so

and I encouraged him to pray
over and over, again and again:

    Jesus, help me trust you love me,     

    Jesus, help me feel you love me,
    Jesus, help me know you love me... 

 

And I think I'll be praying 

    the same words myself, Lord...

 

And for Andy I'll be praying:  

    help Andy trust you love him, Lord,

    help Andy feel you love him, Lord,

    help Andy know you love him

        in his mind and heart and soul...            

 

Amen.

*A pseudonym; details modified to preserve anonymity

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