Each weekday for the next 14 days, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?
SHOCK, LOSS, CONFUSION
Setting: The crucifix, in the centre of your prayer space, should be the only object displayed during this session.
Prayer in praise of another day:
Glory and praise to you, O God.
You gift me with a new day to discover more
about myself and to ponder the mystery of your love.
As this time of isolation continues, I am feeling
the loss of my independence and am confused by my inability
to live a normal life. Yet, my desire to praise you rises
strongly in my heart. For I trust your goodness
and believe that, as the Good Shepherd, you will guide us
to fresh and green pastures.
Glory and praise to you, O God.
Shock, loss, confusion are words used by Daniel O’Leary in the introduction to his final book, Dancing to My Death (2019). He used them to describe “a routine that is suddenly up-ended and knocked entirely off track.” This Irish born priest, teacher and bestselling author was referring to his 2018 cancer diagnosis and his book invites the reader into an emotional and extremely “raw” conversation as the tumour progressed to take his life in January 2019.
With COVID-19, taking hold a year after his death, the “routine” of the whole world has been “suddenly up-ended and knocked entirely off track”. Individuals know this especially in their time of isolation, unable to live life normally, visit friends, shop, or even work. Today’s prayer draws from the experiences described by Daniel O’Leary. His journey through shock, loss and confusion, while echoing the feelings, frustrations and fears of those in isolation and communities in lock-down, also offers life-lines for anyone willing to listen, to reflect and be open to discover goodness and peace even in the worst of times.
- What I am trying to do…is to make my wound into a sacred wound; to make the stones of darkness into welcome stepping stones of light across the turbulent river. [p.22] Jesus, you are God’s gift of light for all the nations. In you we live and move and have our being. Help me to make this connection; to fill it with meaning; to enter more deeply into your life; to know in my heart as well as in my mind that my life is intimately bonded with yours, that my wounds and your wounds, and yours are mine.
- Here’s a gift hidden in your new condition, I’m told. [p.29] I am not suffering a terminal illness, but this coronavirus, a plague in our midst, is sapping my energy and my faith – even as it threatens life throughout the world. Can such a threat carry a gift? Hold me close, loving God, that I may not lose faith in your goodness, nor hope that, within the cloud of sickness, isolation and even death, there is treasure to be found. Perhaps a kinder way of being, a better way of living.
- I need to feel the rhythm of the heart of Mother Universe, Mother Evolution, Mother of Humanity, Mother of all Creation. May God forever deepen in me, clarify for me, the aching glimpses of an impossibly enchanting love. [p.65] Help me, O God, in this distressing time, not to think only of myself and my situation. Remind me that I am part of something huge and splendid and unfinished. I know the words from Paul, Love never ends [1Cor.13:8]. Stir them into my life that I might make them my own and reach out to all.
- … when God eases us out of God’s heart onto this planet, God searches for a place that is most like paradise, and this is the mother’s gaze, she transparently sacramentalises God’s infinite gaze, looking into the eyes of the infant. And when the infant looks into her eyes it is looking into God’s eyes… [p.177-8] Thank you, Creator God, for your great love, holding us forever in your gaze. Help me to always appreciate the wonderful intimacy of your love for me and all creation, and to play my part more resolutely to honour your presence in everything that is.
- We must evolve the energy of love, learn it and spread it… – openly within our communities and hiddenly in our hearts – advancing, enhancing and completing the work of Creation, of Evolution, of the Kingdom of God. [p.190] O God, I want to understand more about how I can use your gift of love to partner you in your creative work. I want to serve others more than myself. Place me where you need love to flourish that I might truly share my love for you and with you.
[Dancing to My Death, Daniel O’Leary, Garratt Publishing, 2019.
Available from Pleroma Christian Supplies, Otane, Hawkes Bay]
SCRIPTURE TIME
Choose a favourite gospel passage and spend 5-10 minutes in meditation. In what way(s) might it direct you to the theme of today’s prayer session?
Scripture references you may like to consider:
Luke, chapter 15 – losing and finding
Mark 6:1-6 – the shock of rejection
Matthew 5:1-11 – the Beatitudes
John, chapter 11 – the raising of Lazarus
—
SHOCK, LOSS, CONFUSION
in a world turned upside down
when the ordinary is no more
and isolation is the norm
I must not forget the we
or you or us
I must not allow
shock to horrify
loss to paralyse
confusion to terrify
hold on to sanity
let love be our sanctuary
THE WAY IT IS
There is a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen: people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
[William Stafford, Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems
Graywolf Press, 1977, p.42
Quoted by Daniel O’Leary]
