Catch me in my anxious quarantine, Lord,
and hold me in this Lenten season:
hold my feet to the fire of your grace
and make me attentive to my mortality
that I may begin to die now
to those things that keep me
from living with you
and with my neighbors on this earth;
to grudges and indifference,
to certainties that smother possibilities,
to my fascination with false securities,
to my addictions that leave me empty,
to my arrogant insistence on how it has to be;
to my corrosive fear of dying someday
which eats away the wonder of living this day,
and the adventure of losing my life
in order to find it in you.
Catch me in my aimless quarantine, Lord,
and hold me in this Lenten season:
hold my heart to the beat of your grace
and create in me a resting place,
a kneeling place, a tip-toe place
where I can recover from the dis-ease of my grandiosities
which fill my mind and heart with fear and worry,
that I may become vulnerable enough
to dare intimacy with the familiar,
to listen cup-eared for your summons,
and to watch squint-eyed for your crooked finger
in the crying of a child,
in the hunger of the street people,
in the panic of the contagion of terrorism in all people,
in the rage of those oppressed because of sex or race,
in the smoldering resentments of exploited third world nations,
in the sullen apathy of the poor and ghetto-strangled people,
in the daunting unknown of the worldwide pandemic we all face
in my lonely doubt and consuming worry,
and somehow, during this season of sacrifice,
direct me to use my time
and possessions, and resources,
to do something…
something about what I see,
something to turn the water of my words
into the wine of will and risk,
into the bread of blood and blisters,
into the blessedness of deed,
of a cross picked up,
a savior followed.
Catch me in my mindless quarantine, Lord,
and hold me in this Lenten season;
hold my spirit to the beacon of your grace
and grant me light enough to walk boldly,
to feel passionately,
to love aggressively,
grant me peace enough to be still,
and to submit to nothing less,
and to fear only you…only you!!
Bequeath me not calmed seas,
slack sails and premature benedictions,
but breathe into me a passion,
with storm enough to make within myself
and from myself, something…
something new,
something saving,
something true,
a gladness of heart,
a proclamation of faith,
a word of praise lived,
a gratitude shared,
a cross dared,
a joy received.
Catch me in my sacred quarantine, Lord,
And hold me in this Lenten season today and beyond. Amen.
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