Reflection & Evening Prayer – 2 October 2017

The snow looks so quiet and peaceful as it falls. Our first snowfall of the season in our neighborhood. Yet the quiet & peaceful picture cannot mask the horror of yet another mass shooting and the senseless death and injury of far too many. I awoke this morning at 4 am (for some reason I rarely sleep well at night… too much to absorb in this nation, world… as well as too many deaths these past few months in the church I serve)… I saw the NPR headline on my phone and wept for those caught up in the latest cycle of senseless violence. 

I lived in the Las Vegas community for four years during my time in the USAF and saw the increase in senseless violence and death… even though much of what Vegas is built on is an illusion, real people live there. People I know and love live there! I have varied from depression to anger to hopelessness to melancholy… this seems to be the state of my heart lately as so much of the nation I served for 26 years in uniform goes down the proverbial toilet in Washington, DC and elsewhere… 

In two days, we will observe the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi… a day where we remember one who was a radical fool for God’s Peace. If we only remember him by conducting pet blessings or putting up lawn ornaments, we miss the point!

In a few hours the sun will set and the Vesper Lights will be lit…

Oh my dear Francis, may we bring out of the ashes of tragedy, hope

May we bring out of the ashes of despair, hope

May we bring out of the ashes of violence, peace 

Lead us, into a life where we serve the Prince of Peace, not the god’s of war

Where we follow a homeless Messiah instead of lusting for wealth and power

May we not only pray your words

May we live them in our daily lives

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Dona Nobis Pacem et in Terra 

Grant Us Peace on Earth 

A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…