Catholic Meditations

A world gone mad when light is dark
when dark is renamed light,
and aching hearts weep bitterly
for their lost ones in the night.
Their cries reach up to Heaven's gate,
Never out of sight
While those in power twiddle.

When the weak and the bitter rule
And nothing new is done
Except to keep on plowing through
The same old futile run,
Aching hearts weep bitterly
As injustice is all that is done
While those in power twiddle.

Good is called bad these days
Out of some weird sense of fair,
And evil demands we tolerate,
With an angry, bitter stare,
Madonna weeps in church and shrine,
Though others seem not to care,
While those in power twiddle.

The world goes mad with Cain's old sin,
Brother against brother,
God watches as we use his name
To hammer one another,
The time to reap the whirlwind nears
For the tears hate cannot smother
While those in power twiddle.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: man's inhumanity, Man's Sinfulness

And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death,
and Hades followed him;
and they were given power over a fourth of the earth,
to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence
and by wild beasts of the earth.

Revelations 6:8 RSV

Bombs that rock the crowded streets
fuel of hate that feeds the beast,
red of maw and black of heart
that longs to tear your soul apart,
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us, Lord the way to go
When we face this bloody foe,
To break the chains of hate and blight
To bring with us your own pure light
To still the crying in the night.

When anger blinds the heart of man
And hardness strides across the land,
Fields unplowed and hunger stalks
while Satan laughs at endless talks
how hard to find the ways of peace
to let the endless fighting cease.
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us, Lord, the way to see,
To be the tool of your mercy,
Fill us with your truth and might
That we might always choose the right
That stills the crying in the night.

The pale horse rides across the land
Death by gun and fire and hand,
Cain's dark madness sweeping wide
Brothers killed for greed and pride
Done for country, God and gold
The story is so very old.
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us Lord, to be your tool
Though others think we are the fool,
Walking with you in your light
Through sword and fire and angry fight
To still the crying in the night.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: Christian Living, Discipleship, man's inhumanity, scripture

How loud the pain and sorrow rises,
A sad crescendo reaching high,
Up to heaven, that growing cry,
Ratcheting up with each new crisis,
Against the screaming hurricane,
I pray in a voice, sad and plain:
Have mercy on us, O Lord!

Today, O Lord, if you hear my voice
against the screech of "Why o Why?"
"I hate you!", "Why don't you just die?"
And vengeance cries that now rejoice,
I pray in a voice, sad and plain
Against this endless wall of pain:
Have mercy on us, O Lord!

The voice of the orphan as he cries,
The parent who's lost his only child,
Those in war zones, hot and wild,
The unwanted, breathing their unseen sighs,
I pray in a voice, sad and plain,
That longs to heal and make things sane -
Have mercy on us, O Lord!

The darkness seems so dark today,
With anger and hate and willful pride
Death means nothing on this dark ride,
The truth forgotten, love turns to clay.
Open our parched hearts, let in the rain!
I pray in a voice, sad and plain.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

Open my hearts to your love's way
That sees with love the hurting one,
That sees the work that needs to be done,
That turns man's dark into Heaven's day.
I pray in a voice sad and plain,
Use me to stop the hurricane,
Teach me to love, O Lord.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: current evils, man's inhumanity, Mercy on Mankind

In the darkness of the moment, I turn to you, O Lord,
You who are the light in which there is no darkness.
Help me to see my way among the rocks and the holes,
The rubble of this sin-filled land in its starkness,
All the places where I might trip and fall
And be swallowed up by the night.

How the sound of sin's dark consequences
pierce through the midnight of this poor world,
The hatred masquerading as good intentions,
in smoke and fire and death and grief unfurl,
in little ways, too, with heart rending words
designed to cut and blight.

O Lord, remember us, how you gave your blood in love
to open up the door to heaven's healing touch,
And looked upon all our hurts and pains with loving eyes,
Shepherdless this people, needing much --
And as the darkness thickens, Lord,
Restore to us our sight!

Steadfast love we have not, save what comes from You,
Who sends your grace to fall upon this hard place
In spite of who we are and what we've done since day began.
In spite of sin and coldness, O Lord, turn not your face,
But remember how you wept in the garden
That one spring moonlit midnight.

O Lord, have pity on the ones I cannot reach but know
How frightened, lost and hungry are their days,
O Lord, the children lost, their parents dying, the wars go on
Satan's laughter piercing through the blood red haze --
Remember Lord, the cross that awful day,
Help us by your might!

Kyrie eleison,
Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: current evils, man's inhumanity, Mercy on Mankind, Need for God

Black as the night, and blacker than dark
Are the ways of sin that burn through the world,
Hatred and Greed and Pride's banner unfurled,
Coursing so redly like Cain's throbbing mark.

O Lord you have shown me, shown all who would see
What the wages of sin are across the land,
Wages that hunger and ever command
Payment in blood and death and grief and misery.

Each harsh word, each blow, each theft in the night,
Bombs blowing up in unwary market places,
Each lording over another, injustice that races
To breed new darkness and hate to smother the light --

These are creatures of the pit, the dragon's delight,
Brought forth in abundance since Mother Eve's choosing,
Binding us in chains of dark bitter accusing --
Satan wanting to show God we are not worth his sight.

And yet God still loves us, the work of his hands,
And showed us the way to break those dark chains
Long ago it seems now, but his touch still remains
To deliver the hearts of those caught in dark lands.

"Love those who hate you, " his soft words proclaim,
A message that seems overwhelming to do,
Breaking the hate chains of darkness anew
By refusing to pass on by action the same.

By action and prayer and love do not stain
Your soul with the evil passed down from the fall,
This is his answer, this is his call
To those of us who would break dark night's chain.

So hard to do, this call now to love,
So hard for us sin-sick, made out of mud
So hard that he gave his own bright heart's blood
To give us the strength from heaven above

To change the world and let in the light,
Showing there's hope in the sorrow of life,
Showing a way out of sin and of strife,
Showing a way out of the endless night

If we answer the call.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: Jesus' Love, man's inhumanity, Need for God

Meditation on Malachi 6:8

Nations now rage across the world,
pax, pax vobiscum,
Sword in hand, flags unfurled,
Et cum spiritu tuo.

They stand for good, they stand for greed,
pax, pax vobiscum,
They rage over words, they kill over creed
Et cum spiritu tuo.

Voices weeping in the night,
pax, pax vobiscum,
breed new hates by morning's light.
Et cum spiritu tuo.

Daughters slain for father's pride
pax, pax vobiscum,
Mothers kill their child inside,
Et cum spiritu tuo.

Orphans are removed from sight,
pax, pax vobiscum,
Disappearing in the night.
Et cum spiritu tuo.

Dogs fed better than homeless man,
pax, pax vobiscum,
Ragpickers living where they can,
Et cum spiritu tuo.

God turned into sign of war,
pax, pax vobiscum,
A bloody mark upon the door,
Et cum spiritu tuo.

O who will break these chains of night,
pax, pax vobiscum,
And lead the weeping into light?
et cum spiritu tuo.

God has told you what to do
pax, pax vobiscum,
To live with Him and brothers, too,
et cum spiritu tuo.

Walk humbly with Him, hand in hand,
pax, pax vobiscum,
To find that peace across the land,
et cum spiritu tuo.

Know all you see are God's children,
pax, pax vobiscum,
Treat all like they belong to him,
et cum spiritu tuo.

Walk in the paths of justice right,
pax, pax vobiscum,
Love mercy like it's Heaven's light
et cum spiritu tuo.

Act lovingly to rich and poor,
pax, pax vobiscum,
And God will open wide his door.
et cum spiritu tuo.

The peace that comes from Heaven's touch
pax, pax vobiscum,
requires your all, returns so much,
et cum spiritu tuo.

This peace is passed from hand to hand,
pax, pax vobiscum,
across a dark and savage land
et cum spiritu tuo.

Nations may rage, but there within
pax, pax vobiscum,
You'll find God's peace where he's let in
et cum spiritu tuo.

Man may maim and man may kill,
pax, pax vobiscum,
The light of God will reach out still.
et cum spiritu tuo.

(pax, pax vobiscum = peace, peace be with you
et cum spiritu tuo = and with your spirit)

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: current evils, Jesus' Love, man's inhumanity, Need for God, scripture

Weeping and wailing over the world
Cries of loss that pierce the night,
Despair and grief piling high upon anger
Oil of death waiting to ignite --
Let us see it as You, O we Your children, Lord --
Rip the veils from our sight.

In a world that shows so clearly
The heart of darkness that painfully beats
There right beneath the surface,
In our homes and in our streets
Show us how to walk as Your children, Lord,
Bearers of Your light.

Only Your light can shatter the midnight,
Only Your touch can soften the hate,
Without Your voice to soothe the anger,
There is no escape from the evil fate
That awaits your erring children, Lord.
Keep us in your sight!

In this hard world that sin has wrought
A hard world growing ever darker,
May we who call You Master see
That what You taught us is the marker
And help us be Your children, Lord
Your hands in the night.

Susan E. Stone, 2007

Labels: Discipleship, Love of Neighbor, man's inhumanity, Mercy on Mankind

When all the darkness of a world gone mad with "me" and "mine"
presses against your heart with its dark futility,
watch the world and see what happens
when self becomes the measure of the truth,
no one way better or worse than another,
with no standard to give it value.
Relativism – a place with no verities.
What type of world is it
when millions of selves become the arbiters of what is right,
of what is holy,
what is worth believing,
each competing,
the child molester no less worthy of admiration
than the hero who rescues the dying,
where killing the sick and old seeming as good a deed as healing,
and children seem a futility of expense.

Listen to that cacophony of competing voices
drowning out a truth they do not want to face,
the fact that without family,
there is an empty hole in life,
where self-loathing shadows over the death of hope,
the fact that chasing sex and intoxication
will never sustain,
that things break,
heros fail,
that isms are imperfect answers for that hole in their lives,
and that no matter how they veil the reality,
their choices are leading them to a nightmare world,
where they try to make shifting desires the center of all,
turning the old granite of truth into quicksand,
unable to sustain a purposeless life.

Listen, and ask yourself,
have we not created the tower of Babel anew,
confusing our hearts, our spirits, our future
in our hubris to say Man, and not God is the center?

Where then, is the firm land
that will let you stand while the chaos grows,
as the center cannot hold,
and things fall apart?

The answer was given to you in the life of a single person
sent here with one purpose,
to bring you home.
Even now, he calls through the bitter waters of modern life,
and offers that transformation
that creates a sanctuary against the storm.
Look upon his cross,
his tomb,
his resurrection and know
one greater than any man
has touched the world,
leaving a cross-shaped beacon pointing the way
to the place where heaven and earth come crashing together,
an island of meaning against the midnight,
bought with blood,
sustained by love.

Laugh at him as old fashioned as you cry against the dark,
or listen to what he has to say,
and find the purpose you were missing.

Susan E. Stone, 2006

Labels: current evils, Jesus' Love, man's inhumanity

Just a Child

Just a child
pulled from the rubble,
streaked with dirt
scraped,
limp,
in the arms of death.

O Lord,
I offer her up to you,
this little one,
victim of anger,
an anger
she didn't even knew about.

O Lord,
forgive us
for not loving enough
to snuff out
a little life,
forgive us for hating enough
to see little ones as
something to sacrifice
in our impatience,
in our greed,
in our indiference,
our anger.

O Lord,
help us learn
that every word we say
has repercussions,
every act has effect,
and when we choose to ignore,
or take,
or refuse to give,
act in malice,
we too set off the bombs,
light the fuses,
tear down the walls.

Give us the strength, O Lord,
when it is so easy not to love.

Amen.

Susan E. Stone, 2004

Labels: man's inhumanity, Need for God

I

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and let my cry come unto thee,
and hear the voice of your children,
all those burdened
with death unexpected,
the dead, the dying, the survivors,
the blood of victims
here,
then,
throughout time
since Abel's blood first cried to you.

II
The Day

For some it was
a day to celebrate,
a day that a little David
brought down
a mighty Goliath.
that symbol of sin and oppression,
who would strip them of God
and truth and opportunity
and tear their world apart
and try to keep them
ground under it's thumb forever.

For some it was
the day life turned to ashes,
drifting in white dusty smoke
coating the survivors
as they groped,
ghostlike,
trying to find the light.

For some it was
children searching for fathers
now pulverized
beneath an unbelievable wreakage.
wives looking for husband
husbands crying for their wives,
voicemail messages played over and over,
the last quick message,
a final goodbye,
the last connection
before the unthinkable.

III

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

For the hardness of our heart
Forgive us, O Lord.

For the passing of our wrongs down to our children,
Forgive us, O Lord.

For the celebration of the death of our enemies,
Forgive us, O Lord.

For choosing to nurse our hate rather than be reconciled with our neighbor,
Forgive us O Lord.

IV


Words.
Words were spoken,
and soon,
reality is warped into the image
cast by words.

The words were spoken
twisting peace into hate,
twisting plowshares into swords,
twisting buildings of people into rubble and ruin.

Where are the words
to ease the pain
of a woman who has lost her child?
In the anger of hate,
is she real
or just a counter?


Where are the words
to fill the heart
of a husband who lost his wife?
Is his loss
justified
by the blow against the enemy?



Where are the words
to fill the lives
of the newly orphaned?
Are their shattered lives
able to heal
the twisting of others' hearts?

V

Dear Lord,
This day, let me commend to you
all those killed
in hatred,
whether by sword,
stone,
scapel,
poison,
bullet,
bomb.
This day I commend to you
victims chosen
to terrorize the surviving,
children,
beloveds,
friends,
coworkers,
strangers.

And on this anniversary
of the evil that man willingly does to others,
teach us not to hate,
but to break the chains
that try to drag us down into the pit
one word at a time
one refusal to hate at a time,
one reaching out to those in need at a time,
one willingness to walk in your steps at a time.

Amen.



Susan E. Stone, 2004

Labels: current evils, Grief, man's inhumanity, Man's Sinfulness, Prayer for Mercy

Prayer on the Second Anniversary of 9-11

This day, O Lord,
we remember all those
who died almost before our eyes,
in the fire and dust and incomprehensible collapse,
victims of hate.

We pray for all those touched
by that evil,
the lives that were snuffed out,
the families who were shattered,
those angry enough to plan such actions
in your name.

And also Lord,
we commend to you
the many whose stories we will never know,
those marked by evil,
by pain and loss and sorrow and hate,
scarred by war and abuse
and others' indifference.
Keep them close to you
on this day
that is a monument
to man's inhumanity to man.

Forgive us our failure
to be peacemakers,
and help us to see why
it is necessary for us
to be light
and salt,
carriers of your peace
in this dark world,
to be your hands,
binding wounds,
uplifting our brothers.

Lord, heal the wounds in our own hearts,
scarred from that day
and let us see,
that even in the deepest darkness,
you are there
holding us close.

Susan E. Stone © 2003

Labels: current evils, man's inhumanity

O Lord,
remember this day
all those whose lives are touched by the tragedy
of human malice,
from the angry word spoken in haste,
the blow of an angry hand,
the pain caused by retribution
the bomb exploded.

O Lord,
let us always be aware
of the ripples caused by our harsh words,
our anger,
our willingness to act out of hurt,
and instead,
teach us to be instruments of your peace,
to heal instead of hurt,
to calm instead of agitate,
to love instead of hate.

Susan Stone

Labels: current evils, Discipleship, man's inhumanity

A Prayer for Children

Sweet Blessed Mother,
O Mary, mother of us all,
This morning I pray
For all the babies conceived to be biosamples,
For all the children ripped from their mothers' wombs,
For all the children abandoned by their parents at
birth,
For all the children dumped by their families and left
to fend for their own in cities throughout the world,
For all the children kidnapped to be soldiers in wars
they cannot understand,
For all the children who live under the threat of
abuse, physical, mental and sexual,
For children starving because of famine or neglect,
For children killed by local authorities because they
are embarrassed by the numbers of abandoned children
haunting their streets,
For children killed by people because they belonged to
the wrong faith, wrong color or wrong ethnic or
political group,
For children accused of socery to excuse their parents'
problems, and then tortured or abandoned,
For children forced to work in unsafe conditions,
For children growing up starved of knowledge of God,
For children growing up starved of love.

Keep them under your mantle, Blessed Mother,
May we never forget how much they are loved by your Son,
And may my eyes always be open
to ways to help them.

Labels: abortion, Children, man's inhumanity, Mary