tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55117842007-06-05T07:29:14.256-07:00Catholic MeditationsKnitting a ConundrumBlogger500125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-54800241489652468972007-06-05T07:25:00.000-07:002007-06-05T07:29:14.287-07:00VeilsThis day, O Lord,<br />Open our eyes<br />to the ways we disguise<br />that hardness of heart<br />that separates us from our brothers<br />from You,<br />from the persons we are supposed to be.<br /><br />How well we disguise it <br />behind masks of righteousness,<br />behind good intentions,<br />behind the myriad ways we can explain away the fact<br />that we are not loving justice,<br />not acting mercifully,<br />not walking humbly with You<br />who show Yourself in our brother's eyes.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />strip the veils,<br />crack the masks,<br />and let us see ourselves as we are,<br />standing naked before You<br />not worthy,<br />scarred and wounded by our failures to hit the mark<br />in need Your healing and transformation.<br /><br />Lord, dress me anew in the white garments of Your love.<br />Help me release each one of those soiled and tattered veils I cling to,<br />transform me by Your loving touch,<br />this day and always,<br />Amen.<br /><br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-28918737321103804902007-05-21T15:06:00.000-07:002007-05-21T15:22:51.856-07:00Standing in the desertHere I am, Lord,<br />Standing in the desert,<br />Uncertain of the path,<br />Always, I am sure,<br />safely in your hand,<br />even as the dusty winds blow,<br />hiding my way.<br /><br />As I walk through this valley <br />my view blocked by the mountains casting gray shadows,<br />I will not fear what those shadows hide,<br />for you are,<br />and have always been, my guide.<br /><br />In my smallness,<br />in my uncertainty and pain,<br />I will cling to your promises,<br />this day, and always,<br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-85089436541041092192007-05-17T11:21:00.000-07:002007-05-17T11:21:51.070-07:00The Pain (revisedLord,<br />the pain wraps around us,<br />throbbing,<br />throbbing,<br />like the rhythm<br />of a beating,<br />like metal on iron<br />of the hammer fall hitting nail,<br />piercing flesh,<br />going deeper<br />until it lodges in wood.<br /><br />The pain,<br />oh the pain,<br />a woman crying out in the night<br />as her loved one is slain,<br />a man standing in grief<br />in the bombed storefront rubble,<br />a child shocked at the blood<br />from a slashed parent,<br />the armwrenching agony<br />as they hauled you with ropes,<br />arms nailed to the crossbeam<br />up up to the drop,<br />white pain electric<br />tearing through shoulder and arms<br />as the beam found the mortise,<br />like the pain of the tortured<br />screaming beneath their captor's hands,<br />crying out as the voltage<br />streams through their bodies,<br />throbbing the pain,<br />through heart and through body<br />the pain of being stripped here in public<br />of everything but the pain<br />and the stares of the gathered<br />as they gambled,<br />and witnessed with tears and with laughs,<br />waiting for the blood to fall<br />for the last breath to finish<br />like guards who kept watch<br />at a starvation ward<br />waiting for thirst to still his voice,<br />make an end to end his praying,<br />like nurses piling blankets high<br />to dehydrate the damaged<br />in the name of mercy killing.<br /><br />The pain,<br />o the pain,<br />throbbing,<br />throbbing,<br />with each beat of your heart,<br />each hard sought breath,<br />like the pain of the deserted,<br />lost in the wild lands,<br />aching,<br />bereft,<br />afraid to stir out in the day,<br />afraid of what men would do,<br />victims they cower,<br />victims of terror,<br />victim of rape,<br />victim of hunger,<br />scurrying out quick by night<br />seeing their children die<br />with no way to stop it,<br />like your mother in pain<br />standing there<br />watching each breath you take,<br />afraid of the last one,<br />dying inside<br />watching your death.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />the pain,<br />O the pain,<br />you wrapped yourself around it,<br />accepted it,<br />tasted it,<br />drank it down to the last dregs,<br />and bore all the burden<br />of man's too willing evil,<br />of man's dark inhumanity<br />down to the pit of death,<br />walking each step with us,<br />walking each step along with us,<br />and accepted that last, lone breath,<br />that would shatter the chain.<br /><br />Lord, in our grief,<br />hold us,<br />and tell us<br />as we unite with you,<br />as we live for you<br />you live for us,<br />and when the pain,<br />the last ache,<br />the last throb<br />is over and done,<br />you will take us<br />to where pain is banished.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-6806647345746592452007-05-10T15:40:00.000-07:002007-05-10T16:04:40.928-07:00Some DaysLord, there are days when you seem so close,<br />Then there are days like today<br />When I feel alone and small, <br />and you seem dear, but so far away,<br />And I am clinging to your cross by my fingertips.<br /><br />O how this world blows hard today,<br />Its dark heart like a storm at night,<br />Pushing me with its winds and rain,<br />trying to push me out of sight<br />Of the glory here at the foot of your cross.<br /><br />And yet I know that as it tugs and pulls,<br />and tries to yank me loose with all of its might<br />It is I who must let go from your strong hand<br />It is I who must choose to go into that night,<br />For you hold me with an unbreakable tie.<br /><br />You are my light, Lord, you are my home --<br />Where else can I go but to your cross<br />Even when the world buffets my heart and mind,<br />It offers no hope, but pain and loss.<br />Even when I do not see you clearly, here I make my stand.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-35742199136085558112007-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:002007-05-04T11:00:21.727-07:00FireFire,<br />Fire from above,<br />fire that burns the chaff away,<br />fire that refines the rough ore into shining metal,<br />fire that transforms darkness into light,<br />Power of the living God,<br />falling from heaven to consume the sinful city,<br />falling from heaven to totally consume Elijah's offering,<br />falling like tongues of fire and a roaring wind<br />to kindle in those gathered the fire of your love,<br />Spirit,<br />Breath of God transforming the world<br />touching our lives anew,<br />each day a new Pentecost<br />to those who welcome you.<br /><br />Breathe in us, Holy Spirit,<br />and let us be transformed<br />by the power of your touch<br />by the power of your love<br />into children of the living God,<br />willing tools for you to use <br />as you renew the face of the earth.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-59662933952114392802007-05-03T06:33:00.000-07:002007-05-03T06:40:26.034-07:00Shepherd My HeartShepherd my heart, O Lord this day,<br />In love's green fields where I might lay<br />By the still waters of your watchful care.<br /><br />Shepherd my heart, O Lord - the way<br />I must go is a valley so gray -<br />Let the staff of your care be my comfort.<br /><br />Shepherd my heart, O Lord, I pray,<br />And when darkness gathers at the end of my day,<br />May I dwell in your house forever.<br /><br />Amen<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-60756738763502216552007-04-27T08:43:00.000-07:002007-04-27T08:45:17.283-07:00A Prayer<p>Lord, teach us to see with your eyes,<br />that light is light,<br />and dark is dark,<br />and that truth is not determined<br />by the whims of the times.</p> <p>Lord, teach us to work with your hands,<br />honestly, in love, and knowing that the little we do today matters.</p> <p>Lord, help us to act in ways that please you,<br />choose in our day to day steps the ways that honor you,<br />and shed your light with all we come in contact to.</p> <p>Lord, give us the strength to stand tall<br />in a world that longs to pull us down into the dust,<br />to stand for the rights of the unborn and the vunerable,<br />to stand for virtue in a world that longs to call virtue vice,<br />and to answer the call to lead when you give it.</p> <p>Help us to work for your light,<br />this day and always, Amen.</p><br /><p></p>Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-36170047667999815772007-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:002007-04-27T08:30:01.109-07:00HopeLord, when I least expect it,<br />you breathe hope into my heart,<br />like sight restored<br />to a man lost in blindness' night,<br />like the mystery of an empty tomb<br />and a gentle word to a grieving woman.<br />How often, in my grief,<br />and in my sorrow,<br />and in my feeling lost,<br />I turn around and see you there smiling.<br />O Master of all my tomorrows,<br />O Keeper of my today,<br />O Light Eternal,<br />You are my hope,<br />and I can only, amazingly, thank you.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-6175812926186591382007-04-21T08:25:00.000-07:002007-04-21T08:33:50.294-07:00Today, O LordToday, O Lord,<br />You must be my hope,<br />for my heart is dark with grief,<br />and my joy shadowed with sorrow,<br />and my thoughts are heavy<br />and my eyes are stung with tears.<br />When I have no earthly hope to lift me up,<br />no easy light to brighten me,<br />I know that my true hope<br />lies there in your heart,<br />pulsating with a love I cannot begin to fathom,<br />guarded from all ills.<br /><br />Today, O Lord,<br />You must be my light,<br />for my world reeks of grayness and salt,<br />heavy clouds that hide the beauty,<br />fog that shrouds the heart.<br />I walk in the darkness,<br />eyes blinded,<br />Yet in simple trust, I know<br />that my true light lies there in your heart,<br />A burning beacon that can pierce through the deepest dark,<br />giving sight to the blind<br />bringing the unexpected dawn.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-75410706530607431592007-04-20T06:12:00.000-07:002007-04-20T06:19:20.301-07:00Morning PrayerI woke up this morning<br />to the song of a robin<br />singing his morning prayers to the dawn,<br />announcing a new day.<br /><br />I woke up this morning<br />to the gift of a new day,<br />a moment to raise up my heart to You, O Lord,<br />another opportunity<br />to be your light,<br />showing the daylight of Your hope<br />to the dark world around me.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />Help me to be this day<br />sunlit with the Son's light,<br />and that as I go about my day,<br />I leave the places I go<br />Brighter with your love.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-668164784337019872007-04-18T07:40:00.000-07:002007-04-18T07:48:31.407-07:00In the DarknessIn the darkness,<br />Be thou our light,<br />Lord of the Universe.<br /><br /><br />When the red anger<br />washes over us in a midnight sea,<br />Breathe upon our souls<br />like you did upon the deep<br />so long ago,<br />rekindling in us that light<br />that only comes from you.<br /><br />When the midnight shatters us<br />in its long, unending blackness,<br />Be our beacon,<br />breathing hope,<br />your life, into our aching bodies,<br />your perfect assurance<br />that the dawn will come.<br /><br />When grief weighs us down,<br />remind us of that one morning long ago,<br />when you shattered the chains of the pit<br />opening wide the door,<br />and with your own touch,<br />lead us through that door<br />and into your joy.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-91988747303873832322007-04-09T07:37:00.000-07:002007-04-09T07:52:39.066-07:00The Tomb Was EmptySoft as a murmur,<br />passed from ear to ear<br />from those who had known him,<br />had followed him<br />had cared.<br /><br />The tomb was empty.<br /><br />Some no doubt,<br />went to see the place,<br />a garden tomb,<br />its stone rolled away,<br />not in place.<br /><br />The tomb was empty.<br /><br />Guards were questioned<br />who ran away,<br />facing death <br />but what could they say?<br /><br />The tomb was empty.<br /><br />A certain glow<br />was upon her face,<br />That woman who followed him<br />to the cross that day,<br />then to his burial place.<br /><br />The tomb was empty.<br /><br />Those who ran<br />and hid away,<br />something changed them<br />come that first Sunday.<br /><br />The tomb was empty.<br /><br />Like the faintest sound<br />gathering force<br />a whisper, a soft voice<br />growing louder<br />a thundering chorus:<br /><br />The tomb is empty!<br /><br /><br />Resurrexit!<br />Alleluia!<br />Amen!<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-34350553515815543762007-04-06T21:57:00.000-07:002007-04-06T22:02:44.659-07:00Good Friday NightLet me remember this night, Lord,<br />when your poor battered body<br />lay cold in the tomb,<br />and you descended into the realm of the dead,<br />how those who loved you felt -<br />how dark the night<br />without your light to shine on them,<br />how they gathered,<br />a lost cluster of souls,<br />sheep without a shepherd<br />not knowing what was to befall them<br />so soon.<br /><br />O my Jesus,<br />when I am lost and lone and torn and frightened,<br />bring me back to remember how lost they felt,<br />and then remind me, too,<br />of the glory that would dawn on Easter morning.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-30935897245355191472007-04-06T10:27:00.000-07:002007-04-06T10:28:51.797-07:00One Sad but Holy Day: A Meditation on the PassionThis one is too long to put on a blogger post.<br /><br />Please go here:<br /><br /><a href="http://escproductions.bizland.com/catholicmeditations/sadandholy.html">http://escproductions.bizland.com/catholicmeditations/sadandholy.html</a>Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-49674139730135369012007-04-04T01:18:00.000-07:002007-04-04T01:58:16.189-07:00SeeSee the torches burning bright as they gather in the garden,<br />see the shadows gather as they come to take him away<br />see his followers run and hide as they scatter from the soldiers,<br />see them drag him off with him by night instead of day.<br />Torches still are burning bright to mask the dark of heart now,<br />Shadows wrapping around their lives as they call the evil right,<br />So many choose the counterfeit and think they have the answer<br />As others try to hide the truth and smother His bright Light.<br /><br />See the court who tries the One who came to bring them new life,<br />See them mock and slander Him, and beat Him as he stands.<br />He did not try to defend himself, he listened as they slandered,<br />He knew that what was happening was in the Father's hands.<br />And still today they judge him in the papers and in books,<br />And learned seminars try to shrink him down to size,<br />And yet they cannot shrink the one who brought life to the world<br />He stands before them still and calm as they pile on their lies.<br /><br />See the one who takes the cross that he was born to carry,<br />Beaten, crowned with thorns, in pain before the crowd,<br />Burdened with the weight of sin that he carried for all others<br />He follows in procession and the cries grow ever loud.<br />And still the crowd howls for his blood in angry shrieking tones,<br />Mocking him to prove that they are stronger folk than he,<br />Setting up alternatives to the light that he would give<br />Trying to hide the truth he taught for what they want to be.<br /><br />And though they crucified him long ago beside two thieves,<br />And he, forgiving to the end went down to death so dark<br />The empty tomb still haunts the ones who long to see him dead,<br />But to those who accept His words, it gives them life's new spark.<br />And He, the Light that came to man will never go away,<br />The Bread of Life who stands before us still to feed our soul<br />For he is Living Water to the parched who come to drink<br />And from his cross comes the hope that makes our torn lives whole.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-28261292489400310572007-04-04T00:50:00.000-07:002007-04-04T01:11:01.845-07:00Light in the DarknessO Lord,<br />as I witness the darkness,<br />and see it wrap itself around more lives,<br />as man becomes less a creature of worth,<br />but merely a cog in the machine,<br />to be send into the night<br />when inconvenient, frail,<br />awkward, sick,<br />where purpose is sidetracked<br />into dehumanizing gratifications,<br />where truth is determined<br />by the shifting sands of what is popular<br />instead of true,<br />where hate and anger become the emotion of choice,<br />and intolerance hides under masks of fairness,<br />I think back to the garden of olives,<br />And the hard aching prayer as you steeled yourself,<br />confronting the truth of humankind's folly,<br />and I take hope in the fact you thought us worth the cost.<br /><br />When the darkness is heavy, Lord,<br />let me see your cross burning in the night,<br />the only beacon I can trust to show me the way.<br />And at its foot, in the rough bloodstained sands,<br />kneeling, let my heart find the refuge it needs.<br /><br />When the darkness is heavy, Lord,<br />let me be a lantern<br />to carry that light into a dark world,<br />to pass on the flame of your mercy and hope,<br />that out of the death you bore for us<br />in long, bitter pain,<br />you give us the hope of a God who loved us enough<br />to walk with us,<br />suffer with us,<br />die for us,<br />to bring us his light.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1112800870612788672005-04-06T08:20:00.000-07:002007-04-03T06:08:59.953-07:00LanternsIn the darkness<br />I grope,<br />stumbling across the rocks and shards<br />that cannot give me meaning,<br />broken long ago<br />by a single act,<br />an irrevocable choice.<br /><br />And yet<br />you chose to puncture that darkness<br />with the depths of your love,<br />bright,<br />shining like a beacon.<br />cross-shaped,<br />carried in the hearts and souls<br />of those who love you.<br /><br />Make me a lantern, too,<br />let me be one who carries that light<br />until all my dross is burned away,<br />and all that remains<br />has been fully transformed.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2005Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1132006539810559682005-11-14T15:15:00.000-07:002007-04-03T05:47:10.192-07:00Meditation on the Lamb of GodBehold the Lamb of God,<br />Behold him to takes away the sins of the world.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />at that moment,<br />we are taken back,<br />standing in the dust,<br />touched with the smell of blood,<br />and fear,<br />and grief,<br />and pain,<br />and looking up,<br />both to you in the white host,<br />broken in the priest's hands,<br />to you on the cross of calvary,<br />to you, at that last supper,<br />holding the bread that was you,<br />that would feed your followers<br />and all the followers who followed them.<br /><br />Behold,<br />him who is Love Incarnate,<br />him, who to whom every knee will bow,<br />him, who was wounded for our transgressions,<br />him, who brings us back,<br />a re-presentation of that moment in time,<br />where he who was master,<br />bled for we who are slave,<br />on a slave's cross,<br />in a slave's death<br />so that we might live.<br /><br />Blessed are we,<br />because he called us,<br />the undeserving,<br />the lost,<br />the ungrateful,<br />the cruel,<br />the lusting,<br />the sin-sick,<br />all called to be healed,<br /><br />Lord, I will never be worthy to receive you under the roof of my soul,<br />but only say the word,<br />the word that heals,<br />the word that lifts me out of the dust of my deserved death,<br />and my soul,<br />so stained, aching and lost,<br />shall truly be healed.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2005Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-37519925577009746772007-04-02T09:22:00.000-07:002007-04-02T09:22:52.843-07:00Meditation on the Precious Blood, version 2How red the blood,<br />red,<br />dark,<br />offered up drop by drop<br />to the soldier's whip,<br />to the thorn's bite,<br />to the executioner's nail,<br />to the long wait on the cross.<br /><br />Trickling down his arms,<br />across his feet,<br />down his forehead,<br />red blood,<br />sticky,<br />mark of death,<br />fluid of life,<br />blood of sacrifice,<br />redemption.<br /><br />O Sacrifice of Love,<br />O Victim Conqueror,<br />O Lamb of God<br />who takes away the sins of the world,<br />have mercy on us,<br />heal us by the blood you so willingly shed,<br />give us hearts of love.<br /><br />Amen.Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-30340994736797228752007-04-01T18:32:00.000-07:002007-04-01T18:33:47.904-07:00Beneath Your CrossBetween the midnight rationales of those who reach out in hate<br />Shedding blood on the streets in God's holy name,<br />And those who count religion as the source of pain and disgrace<br />And see life on this Earth as just a meaningless game,<br />There is a place between, a balance point, a shelter Heaven touched,<br />Sanctified by Love and death, the reason why You came.<br />Let me stand here beneath Your cross, O Lord,<br />And know that Your ways are Yours, and the worlds' ways are not the same.<br /><br />Between the easy answer that self is the measure of all,<br />And the anger that lets uninvolved and innocent persons die<br />As offerings to hate that say "I'm stronger than you,"<br />Self and self-righteous indignation the echoing battlecry,<br />The unborn, sacrificed for convenience, the inconvenient killed on the way,<br />The unwanted dying in isolation, unmourned wherever they lie<br />Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,<br />And see in Your light the reasons why you chose to die.<br /><br />Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,<br />A sanctuary made in such a hard and painful way<br />God walking as man beneath the Sun He made,<br />God dying, tortured and abused, to take our sins away<br />The one saving point in the realm of darkness,<br />The one sure dawning of Heaven's perfect day<br />Let me stand here beneath Your cross, Lord,<br />Be it ever in my sight, my hope, my life, O Lord I pray.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2007Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1102447578493199912004-12-07T13:25:00.000-07:002007-04-01T08:13:19.732-07:00LovingO Lord,<br />sometimes it's just so hard<br />to see the sorrows,<br />frustrations,<br />desires<br />of our loved ones,<br />to let them go<br />like doves flying off<br />into your care.<br />How often I want to scream,<br />NO! Don't do that!<br />and sometimes,<br />it pierces through my thick head<br />that you watching us<br />make all the wrong choices,<br />as we choose sin over good,<br />anger over love,<br />lust over charity,<br />must know how much restraint and love<br />it takes<br />to watch those who you care fore<br />choose badly.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />help me to choose the good over the bad,<br />the light over the dark<br />to feel my heart conflicted, breaking with love<br />than to reject the chance to love,<br />and to thank you always<br />for your great mercy,<br />this day,<br />and always.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2004Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1099929714374394452004-11-08T08:59:00.000-07:002007-04-01T08:01:59.991-07:00Masks<pre><br /><br />Jesus,<br />how much you are still<br />a sign of contradiction,<br />and some create<br />such interesting masks<br />to clothe your reality.<br /><br />For some,<br />the mask<br />a sign of ignorance,<br />being backwards,<br />unthinking,<br />unlearned.<br /><br />For some,<br />the mask is<br />an enlightened teacher,<br />a guru,<br />or the mask of a prophet,<br />the mask of a revolutionary<br />who lived and died<br />and that was enough.<br /><br />For some,<br />we see the light behind the masks<br />man makes.<br /><br />Help us see behind the masks we make,<br />and stripped of all we add,<br />may we find that you are Emmanuel,<br />God with us,<br />suffering and dying<br />that we might live,<br />and might have that life abundantly<br />in your peace,<br /><br />and in seeing,<br />may those of us<br />who have experienced<br />the truth of your reality<br />be signposts<br />for those<br />who look at the masks<br />of their own creation.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2004<br /></pre>Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1099929524410620012004-11-08T08:57:00.000-07:002007-04-01T07:57:42.048-07:00Forgive Us Our Misuse of You, O LordO Lord,<br />Please pierce the heart<br />of those who would use you,<br />body and blood, soul and divinity,<br />there in the form of bread,<br />food of the poor,<br />symbol and reality<br />of your love for us,<br />as a political statement<br />of their determination<br />to act in sin<br />pierce their hearts<br />with the reality of their wrongdoing,<br />and may they realize the enormity<br />of the wrong they do<br />and return in penance.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />pierce the hearts of the priests,<br />the bishops,<br />and those entrusted<br />to lead us<br />with the reality of the wrong<br />that others do for political statement,<br />and may they be given wisdom<br />to act rightly,<br />the strength of heart<br />to stand up for the truth,<br />wisdom to recognize the right action,<br />and the fire of courage<br />that comes from the touch of your Holy Spirit.<br /><br />O Lord,<br />help us, just the regular men and women<br />who love you,<br />to be willing to stand up and say,<br />This is wrong,<br />the wisdom to know how to act,<br />and the joy of being your witness.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2004Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1098035403629692132004-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:002007-04-01T07:53:25.709-07:00This Day, O LordThis day, O Lord,<br />help us to forget our fears<br />as we respond to your invitation<br />to pray without ceasing,<br />to cast our cries to you,<br />to be transformed<br />into the tools<br />you use<br />to bring light,<br />peace,<br />hope<br />into the dark and aching world.<br /><br />Teach us to know<br />that when we lift up our arms,<br />no matter how weary,<br />you will let us win the day<br />against the darkness,<br />just like you won the war<br />the day you stretched out your arms<br />on Golgotha<br />in an open embrace<br />to free the whole world.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2004Knitting a Conundrumtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5511784.post-1099769503347736262004-11-06T13:29:00.000-07:002007-04-01T07:50:06.866-07:00Let Me Be Your ToolDear Lord,<br />I think<br />of all those people<br />who long to do good,<br />who see light<br />but don't understand it,<br />who look at the counterfeit,<br />and not knowing how to choose,<br />pick the pretty false<br />over the solid true,<br />and think it is well.<br /><br />I do not know<br />all the answers, Lord,<br />but would,<br />if you choose,<br />to help show<br />those who look<br />the true from the false<br />the tinfoil from the gold,<br />the solid from the insubstantial.<br /><br />Let me point someone<br />to your beacon on the hill,<br />where heaven and earth meet<br />at the cross at Golgotha,<br />where you wait<br />to give life<br />to those who will listen.<br /><br />I do not know<br />all the answers, Lord,<br />but your hands<br />know what to do.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br />Susan E. Stone, 2004Knitting a Conundrum