Catholic Meditations

Eclipse Night, 2003: A Prayer

O my Jesus,
on this dark eclipse night,
when once again
the thunder of hate shakes the night
leaving behind ruin,
and death,
and pain,
and shattered lives
done in the name of God,
dear Lord, forgive us.

Forgive us Lord,
for all the times we shed innocent blood,
lives yet to see the light of day,
lives disabled and inconvenient,
lives harmed by anger in the family,
lives harmed by anger of a stranger,
lives sacrificed for power
lives sacrificed for gain.

Forgive us Lord,
when we see suffering and turn blind eyes,
when we live lives enriched by others misery,
when we do not stop and hear the pain that others feel,
when we forget that doing what is right
is not only right for us and our friends.

Forgive us Lord,
the bloody hands we reach up to you,
in supplication,
in our misery and our fear,
guilty as sin.

Susan E. Stone © 2003

Labels: current evils

By His Stripes

Let me never forget, O Lord,
how you offered yourself for the soldier's whip,
the slapping and blows
of anger and mocking,
and by the blood you shed,
and the death you died,
you wrought our salvation.

And yet we hold the whip still in our hands,
the flagellum with it's biting teeth
flailing through the air
to land with its sickening slap
on your bloodied back
each time we choose to hurt,
to have the final word,
to force,
to gloat,
to ignore,
to deny.

Teach us, O Lord,
to heal instead of harm,
to bless instead of curse,
to love instead of hate,
to see you always in the face of the stranger,
the downcast,
the needy,
the empty.

Instead of the whip,
send us the tears of true repentence,
that with you help,
we may go and sin no more.

Susan E. Stone © 2003

Labels: Passion of Christ