Road

Lord, let my soul be in your hands
that hold the caverns of the earth,
that cradle seas and skies and lands.
Oh, cradle me as I go forth.

The road I'm on is dark and long
and leads me through the shadow vale—
but still a line across your palm.
Oh, bring me where the shadows pale.

I stumble, Lord.  I fail and fall.
I lie down on the ground and weep.
Give strength to get up after all,
grace deeper than despair is deep.

And mercy, Lord, above all else,
beyond forgiveness' settled debts.
Not for my sins, but for myself, 
grant mercy's ever gentle breath.

That when this road has found its end
beyond all valleys, flats, and peaks,
I may be still within your hand,
found there before the face I seek.

U.S. Route 95 in Churchill County, Nevada, is an example of a typical two-lane, bi-directional road found throughout the rural areas of the United States that are designed for light traffic. By Famartin – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39452786

Perfect

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48

God, how shall I be perfect
as your perfection calls
whose light strikes mead and desert,
who makes the rain to fall?

To love who sins against me,
who wounds me, then to bless,
as you have loved your enemies,
as you have loved myself?

Can anyone fulfill this?
For who can be like God?
You, you alone can do it—
unless you touch our hearts.

Unless you heal that hardness
that turns all hope to fear,
unless in love you pardon us
and touch our eyes and ears.

Have mercy on my blindness,
though you are God Who Sees,
and in your loving kindness
have mercy, too, on me.

And let me, too, have mercy;
let me hear those who call.
Your rain falls on the thirsting;
your light shines on us all.

Rain near the village Lunde, The north of Funen, Denmark by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=276654

Buried

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.’
Matthew 25:14-30

Give me the courage now, O Lord,
before you come, before that day,
to dig up what in fear I hoard
and scatter it along my way.

To drag my coins into the light,
to dig up all my buried gold,
before you come, a thief at night:
Give me the courage to be bold,

to take the little that I have
and not to bury but to plant—
to share what I would rather save
and let it fall from open hands.

And if it all should go from me,
if nothing to my hand returns,
then am I in good company,
for you came here with nothing first.

But let it be a mustard seed
that you have planted in my soul:
Oh, let it grow and let it spread
to something better far than gold.

And what I harvest, let me sow
that others may yet gather more,
and let your bounty grow and grow
that all may feast with you, O Lord.

The Parable of the Talents, depicted by artist Andrei Mironov. Oil on canvas, 2013 By Андрей Николаевич Миронов (A.N. Mironov) – Own work, Andrey Mironov See also ticket:2015070410013036http://artmiro.ru/photo/religija_zhanrovaja_kartina/pritcha_o_talantakh/4-0-398, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30528194

The Lover

My love is mine and I am his
who kneels to bathe my feet,
who stoops with heaven in his kiss,
and oh, his kiss is sweet.

I am my love's and he is mine,
for he has given all
to let his love about me twine
when in the dark I fall.

There where the sun has turned away
and gone are all the stars,
my only light is in his gaze,
my only hope his arms.

And so I cling about his heart;
he sets me like a seal
upon his breast, upon his arm,
and clings to me as well.

Thuswise, until the morning comes,
he is my heart itself,
my courage 'til the break of dawn,
my comfort and my rest.

Then let that darkness fall again,
a veil upon the world;
within his arms, my refuge then,
ever shall I lie curled.

Józef Mehoffer – Serce Jezusa 1930 By Józef Mehoffer – http://www.polswissart.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126863843

Sparks

We live in one unending night
where thieves and brigands roam,
yet do we walk in endless light
whereby we see our home

and kindle from its hearth a flame
to guide us through the dark.
We take our measure and our aim
by that undying spark.

But staring ever at the light,
our vision blurs and swims
'til we see colors in the night,
and in all faces, him.

A weary world we see renewed,
redemption born of scars,
a thief who comes to do us good,
the night aswarm with stars

where every spark is, too, a seam
as earth and heaven touch,
and pouring through each tiny gleam
the kingdom come of love.

O Christ, feed all our little flames
until your sun shall rise.
Give us the eyes to see your day
in lanterns lifted high.

15th-century candle lantern from Germany, perforated metal By Wolfgang Sauber – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12738703

The Judge

Come, O Lord; come quickly:
Tear the skies apart.
Shadows here lie thickly:
Drive away the dark.
Come in all your glory;
come ascend your throne.
Finish now the story
whose end is yours alone.

Come, O Lord, with judgment:
Come to set things right.
Bring at last your justice;
end oppression's might.
Come and show us clearly
where we must atone.
Make your wounds a mirror
of all we've done and known.

Come, O Lord, with mercy:
Let its rivers run
through our desert thristing,
gleaming as the sun.
Let our barrens blossom
as once Eden bloomed.
Come, restore your garden,
and oh, come soon!  Come soon!

Day of Judgment By Gherardo Starnina – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2978136

The Foolish Virgin’s Song

At midnight, there was a cry,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
Matthew 25:1-13

O God of day and God of night,
when Christ the bridegroom comes for me,
and if my lamp no more burns bright,
by your good grace then may it be,
O God of dark and God of light,
that he my shine a light for me.

For when these moments all uncoil,
no light will shine from my poor dust.
If ever I had any oil,
it flowed from him as he was crushed—
not by my strength, not by my toil,
but only his outpouring love.

So there must be, by your good grace,
a fountain that is flowing still,
whose drops anoint each human face
that waits upon the bridegroom's will,
where mercy ever flows in spate.
The bridegroom's love my flask must fill.

The waiting seems forever long,
O God of day and God of night,
and though the hours stretch on and on
while we await the bridegroom's light,
may we yet meet him when he comes
with lanterns he keeps burning bright.

Francken, Hieronymus the Younger – Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins – c. 1616 By Hieronymous Francken II – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6860120

Nothing Left

Today we renew the hope in eternal life, truly founded on Christ’s death and Resurrection. “I am risen and I am with you always”, the Lord tells us, and my hand supports you. Wherever you may fall, you will fall into my hands and I will be there even to the gates of death. Where no one can accompany you any longer and where you can take nothing with you, there I will wait for you to transform for you the darkness into light.
Benedict XVI, Angelus 11/2/2008

When there's nothing left but ending,
when your feet run out of road,
when there's nowhere but descending,
Christ is there before you go.

Where there's nothing you take with you,
empty handed in the dark,
hope is just a dying glimmer:
Christ is there to strike the spark.

He is waiting, Word eternal,
where the weeping make no sound,
so come all you heavy burdened:
Let your weary soul sink down.

Let the earth receive your grieving;
let it soak into the sands.
Deeper far than all believing,
there youa re within his hands.

There he cradles you in sorrow;
there he holds you to his breast.
Though you rise with him tomorrow,
yet for now you shall have rest.

Lay your burden down in darkness;
let the seed fall to the soil.
Sleep must come before the harvest;
you shall share the feast of joy.

Jakub Schikaneder – All Souls’ Day – Ophelia2, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12453561

Adam Lay Imprisoned

Riffing on “Adam Lay Ybounden“:

Adam lay imprisoned,
captive held, and bound,
and we are held there with him
'til mercy may be found.

Bound to recall betrayal—
his own and Eve's that day;
bound to the death of Abel—
he cannot look away.

Bound to see us repeat it
each generation since.
Bound to the loss of Eden;
bound to lose all his sons

'til one shall come unbinding,
come breaking all the chains,
'til one whose light comes blinding
shall touch the heart of Cain.

And all who weep with Adam,
and all who tasted death
shall rise from deep in shadow,
shall taste of heaven's bread.

And all whose chains are broken
mourn Adam's choice no more
for heaven's gates stand open
now and forevermore.

By Anonymous 15th Century scribe, digitised by the British Library – http://www.headlesschicken.ca/eng204/texts/images/Sloane2593.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12139575

One Father

As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Matthew 23:1-12

One Father, one who made us
and made us to be one,
one source and one creator,
and we are all his own.
We have no other Father;
we have no other god,
no other that we honor
with all our mind and heart.

One Son who came to lead us
when we were lost and gone,
to break the chains and free us,
and bring the captives home.
We have no other master;
we have no other king,
and we shall fear no shadows
who rest beneath his wings.

One Spirit, one who knows us
and one who makes us known,
who sighs and groans out for us
before the Father's throne.
We have no other teacher;
we have no other lord,
and we are all one people:
God's own forever more.

Rublev’s famous icon showing the three Angels being hosted by Abraham at Mamre. By Eloquence – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=158610