Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well. In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
Today’s meditation was written by Diana Macalintal and passed on to us by Nancy Stephens. We found Diana’s poetic litany inspiring and comforting, and we anticipate that it will bring you these same blessings.
We are resending this poem today: we learned that many of you either did not receive it or found the poem not present in our newsletter.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
May the Easter Season be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the resurrection of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Jean & Ron
Meditation Twenty-One: A Litany of Blessing in Time of Grief
© 2020 Diana Macalintal
Before we breathed our first, O God, you etched our names upon your hands,
like stretchmarks carved on our mother’s skin.
And those same hands that bear our lives will carry us
Home as we breathe our last.
So even in our grief, O God,
Let every breath we carry within
announce your goodness with praise unending. For you have
made us to be your own,
a people of your Spirit with blessing on our lips.
Therefore,
Sun and moon: Bless the Lord!
Stars of the sky: Bless the Lord!
Depths of the ocean: Bless the Lord!
Birds of the air: Bless the Lord!
Let all creation: Bless the Lord!
Blessed be God for doctors and nurses: Blessed be God forever!
For scientists and researchers: Blessed be God forever!
For pharmacists and technicians: Blessed be God forever!
For social workers and caregivers: Blessed be God forever!
For all who work to keep us safe: Blessed be God forever!
Blessed be God for grocery clerks and stockroom help: Blessed be God forever!
For restaurant chefs and fast-food workers: Blessed be God forever!
For farmers and delivery drivers: Blessed be God forever!
For field laborers and long-haul truckers: Blessed be God forever!
For all who feed and care for us: Blessed be God forever!
Blessed be God for teachers and parents: Blessed be God forever!
For those who sing and for those who dance: Blessed be God forever!
For musicians, artists, composers and poets: Blessed be God forever!
For comedians, actors and movie makers: Blessed be God forever!
For all who inspire and sustain our hearts: Blessed be God forever!
Blessed be God for the human spirit: Blessed be God forever!
That strives to live in different ways: Blessed be God forever!
That connects with others while staying apart: Blessed be God forever!
That weeps and laughs and sits in silence: Blessed be God forever!
For the human family in deeper communion: Blessed be God forever!
In faith and love, we ask you, God, let not this virus consume our world.
But breathe your Spirit in us again that we may praise you unceasingly
With Christ our Lord, from whom all good things come.