Entries

Day 11

Psalm 104(103):13-15

From your dwelling you water the hills;

earth drinks its fill of your gift.

You make the grass grow for the cattle

and the plants to serve man’s needs,

that he may bring forth bread from the earth

and wine to cheer man’s heart;

oil, to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

Grace's House (Thomas Merton)

On the summit: it stands on a fair summit
Prepared by winds: and solid smoke
Rolls from the chimney like a snow cloud.
Grace’s house is secure.

No blade of grass is not counted,
No blade of grass forgotten on this hill.
Twelve flowers make a token garden.
There is no path to the summit—
No path drawn
To Grace’s house.

All the curtains are arranged
Not for hiding but for seeing out.
In one window someone looks out and winks.
Two gnarled short
Fortified trees have knotholes
From which animals look out.
From behind a corner of Grace’s house
Another creature peeks out.

Important: hidden in the foreground
Most carefully drawn
The dog smiles, his foreleg curled, his eye like an aster.
Nose and collar are made with great attention:
This dog is loved by Grace!

And there: the world!
Mailbox number 5
Is full of Valentines for Grace.
There is a name on the box, name of a family
Not yet ready to be written in language.

A spangled arrow there
Points from our Coney Island
To her green sun-hill.

Between our world and hers
Runs a sweet river:
(No, it is not the road,
It is the uncrossed crystal
Water between our ignorance and her truth.)

O paradise, O child’s world!
Where all the grass lives
And all the animals are aware!
The huge sun, bigger than the house
Stands and streams with life in the east
While in the west a thunder cloud
Moves away forever.

No blade of grass is not blessed
On this archetypal, cosmic hill,
This womb of mysteries.

I must not omit to mention a rabbit
And two birds, bathing in the stream
Which is no road, because

Alas, there is no road to Grace’s house!

Musical Selection (Kathleen Deignan)

To the Gardener of the World be praise,

Blessing, honor and glory, Alleluia.

Greener of Earth,

Tender of trees of the fields and the grass.

Keeper of Forests,

Woodlands and wide-open plains: we attend.

Radiance on Waters,

Flowing in river and lake and the stream.

Caster of Currents

Running ‘neath oceans and seas: we attend.

Loom of Vitality

Vesting our earth in its blue breathing veil.

Weaver of Webs,

Latticing snowflakes and roots: we attend.

Meditation

Without a doubt, the natural resources required by technology, such as lithium, silicon and so many others, are not unlimited, yet the greater problem is the ideology underlying an obsession: to increase human power beyond anything imaginable, before which nonhuman reality is a mere resource at its disposal. Everything that exists ceases to be a gift for which we should be thankful, esteem and cherish, and instead becomes a slave, prey to any whim of the human mind and its capacities.

It is chilling to realize that the capacities expanded by technology “have given those with the knowledge and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world. Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used… In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it”. (LD 22-23)

Prayer

Hear our humble prayer, O God,

for our friends the animals, your creatures.

We pray especially for all that are suffering in any way:

for the overworked and underfed,

the hunted, lost, or hungry;

for all in captivity or ill-treated,

and for those that must be put to death.

For those who deal with them,

we ask a gentle heart of compassion,

gentle hands, and kindly words.

Make us all true friends to animals

and worthy followers of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. —Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers

Archives