Photo: Purple Orchids on Red

 

Poem: “The Greated Evil in the World” by St. Teresa of Calcutta

 Many today are starving for ordinary bread.

But there is another kind of hunger – 

the hunger to be wanted, to be loved, to be recognized.

Nakedness too is not just a want of clothes, 

but also about loss of dignity, purity, and self-respect.

And homelessness is not just want of a house; 

there is the homelessness of being rejected, 

of being unwanted in a throwaway society.

The biggest disease in the world today 

is the feeling of being unwanted and uncared for.

The greatest evil in the world is lack of love, 

the terrible indifference towards one’s neighbor.

Photo: Pasttimes

 

Spirituality: Two Statements on Love

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.:

Love is the only force that can make things one without destroying them.

Tomas Halik:

Love is the courage to die to one selfishness, to forget oneself because of others, to step out of oneself. Love is essentially transcendence, crossing the borders that surround our existence. Love is an unconditional and all embracing form of unification. God happens where we love people, our neighbors.

Photo: Time for Worship

 

Poem: “Letting Go” by Edwina Gateley

It is time to go.

I can smell it.

Breathe it.

Touch it.

And something in me

Trembles.

I will not cry.

Only sit bewildered.

Brave and helpless

That it is time.

Time to go.

Time to step out

Of the world

I shaped and watched

Become.

Time to let go

Of the status and

The admiration.

Time to go.

To turn my back

On a life that throbs

With my vigor and a spirit

That soared

Through my tears.

Poem: “Lenten Poem” by Ann Weems

 Lent is a time to take time to let the power 

of our faith story take hold of us, 

a time to let the events get up 

and walk around in us, 

a time to intensify our living unto Christ, 

a time to hover over the thoughts of our hearts, 

a time to place our feet in the streets of 

Jerusalem or to walk along the sea and 

listen to his Word, 

a time to touch his robe 

and feel the healing surge through us, 

a time to ponder and a time to wonder …. 

Lent is a time to allow 

a fresh new taste of God! 

Perhaps we’re afraid to have time to think, 

for thoughts come unbidden. 

Perhaps we’re afraid to face our future 

knowing our past. 

Give us courage, O God, 

to hear your Word 

and to read our living into it.

Give us the trust to know we’re forgiven 

and give us the faith 

to take up our lives and walk.

Photo: Gate of Heaven Church

 

Prayer: Cyril of Jerusalem

Our actions have a tongue of their own. They have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words.

Photo: Letting Go