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Day 14

Psalm 104(103):19-20, 22

You made the moon to mark the months;

the sun knows the time for its setting.

When you spread the darkness it is night

and all the beasts of the forest creep forth.

At the rising of the sun they steal away

and go to rest in their dens.

At Sunset (Jessica Powers)

Night after night these sunsets spread their thrill,

confound me and my dreaming for an hour.

I lift my mind and wonder to the power

of color glorified by light until

I know the miracle each western hill

sees when the scattered clouds come into flower—

Petals of shining roses and a shower

of flushed gold falls, and my wild heart is still.

Now for a time the soul is visible,

luminous wings left out on either side

and I am faint who house this beautiful

gold bird; my clouds of thought are glorified.

Color and light possess me. I am one

with stars and moonlight and the dying sun.

Musical Selection

A song of the setting sun!

The sky in the west is red,

And the day is all but done:

While yonder up overhead,

All too soon,

There rises, so cold, the cynic moon.

A song of a winter day!

The wind of the north doth blow,

From a sky that's chill and gray,

On fields where no crops now grow,

Fields long shorn

Of bearded barley and golden corn.

A song of a faded flower!

'Twas plucked in the tender bud,

And fair and fresh for an hour,

In a lady's hair it stood.

Now, ah! now,

Faded it lies in the dust and low.

Meditation

The ethical decadence of real power is disguised thanks to marketing and false information, useful tools in the hands of those with greater resources to employ them to shape public opinion. With the help of these means, whenever plans are made to undertake a project involving significant changes in the environment or high levels of contamination, one raises the hopes of the people of that area by speaking of the local progress that it will be able to generate or of the potential for economic growth, employment and human promotion that it would mean for their children. Yet in reality there does not seem to be any true interest in the future of these people, since they are not clearly told that the project will result in the clearing of their lands, a decline in the quality of their lives, a desolate and less habitable landscape lacking in life, the joy of community and hope for the future; in addition to the global damage that eventually compromises many other people as well.

One need but think of the momentary excitement raised by the money received in exchange for the deposit of nuclear waste in a certain place. The house that one could have bought with that money has turned into a grave due to the diseases that were then unleashed. And I am not saying this, moved by a overflowing imagination, but on the basis of something we have seen. It could be said that this is an extreme example, but in these cases there is no room for speaking of “lesser” damages, for it is precisely the amassing of damages considered tolerable that has brought us to the situation in which we now find ourselves. (LD 29-30)

Prayer

Bless, O God, this tender evening,
The trees, branches raised in praise,
The sky, soft glow darkening into dusk,
The homecoming of young and old.

Bless, O God, this sacred moment,
The quiet pause between day and night,
The birds, flying to safety in bush or brush.
The colors of the sunset—
Orange to red to purple to black—
Creeping across the sky.
Bless, O God, this night to come.
The safety of shelter, the supper to nourish.
Hearts of joy or souls bent in sorrow.
Renewing rest and hope for one more day.
Bless, O God. Bless. —Beth A. Richardson

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