Vespers

In Celebration of Fall

Lord you send it to us but once a year, then but for a short time.
The smells, the leafs, the pumpkins, the country fairs
The maples, the oaks, the birches, even those bradford pear announce it’s arrival
The days grow shorter, the nights cooler
We pull out blankets, we light candles, we prepare our sweaters
How can dying seem so beautiful–so colorful–so
Is this a reminder or a promise?
Thank you for the apples, the colors, the coolness, the gracious gift we call fall. Amen

Thank you God
e.e. cummings

i thank You God
i thank You God for most this amazing day:
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and  now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

A Franciscan Prayer

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers,
half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection,
starvation and war, so that you may reach out your
hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.