COVENANT

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The Father
knocks at my door,
seeking a home for his son: 

Rent is cheap, I say 

I don’t want to rent. I want to buy, says God. 

I’m not sure I want to sell, 
but you might come in to look around. 

I think I will, says God. 

I might let you have a room or two. 

I like it, says God. I’ll take the two. 
You might decide to give me more some day. 
I can wait, says God. 

I’d like to give you more, 
but it’s a bit difficult. I need some space for me. 

I know, says God, but I’ll wait. I like what I see. 

Hm, maybe I can let you have another room. 
I really don’t need that much. 

Thanks, says God, I’ll take it. I like what I see. 

I’d like to give you the whole house 
But I’m not sure – 

Think on it, says God. I wouldn’t put you out. 
Your house would be mine and my son would live in it. 
You’d have more space than you’d ever had before. 

I don’t understand at all. 

I know, says God, but I can’t tell you about that. 
You’ll have to discover it for yourself. 
That can only happen if you let him have the whole house. 

A bit risky, I say. 

Yes, says God, but try me.

I’m not sure – 
I’ll let you know.

I can wait, says God. I like what I see.

Sr. Margaret Halaska

FIDELITY

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It’s becoming increasing difficult in today’s world to trust anything or anybody, for good reason. There’s little that’s stable, safe to lean on, trustworthy. We live in a world where everything is in flux, is flux, where everywhere we see distrust, abandoned values, debunked creeds, people moving on from where they used to be, contradictory information, and dishonesty and lying as socially and morally acceptable.

There is little left of trust in our world. What does this call us to? We’re called to many things, but perhaps nothing more important than fidelity, to be honest and persevering in who we are and what we stand for.

One person’s fidelity makes everyone’s fidelity easier, just as one person’s infidelity makes everyone’s fidelity more difficult. So, inside a world that’s so highly individualistic and bewilderingly transient, when it can feel as if everyone is forever moving away from you, perhaps the greatest gift we can give each other is the gift of our own fidelity, to stay for a long time.

Ronald Rolheiser

VENITE

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Come, let us raise a joyful song,
a shout of triumph to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into Your presence with thanksgiving,
singing songs of triumph.
For You are a great God, a great king over all gods.
The depths of the earth are in Your hands; mountains belong to You.
The sea is Yours, for You made it;
and the dry land Your hands fashioned.
Let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the One who made us.
For You are our God, and we are the flock that You shepherd.
We will know Your power and presence this day,
if we will but listen for Your voice.

VENITE
Psalm 95

HOME

Home is where we start from, and it inevitably also determines how we start to be who we are.

There is nothing as un-neutral as a home. It is the most self-effacing laboratory of consciousness quietly shaping belief, expectation, and life direction.

The home is the locus of a poignant transience. In order to grow up, we have to learn to leave home.

Home is where the heart is. It stands for the sure center where individual life is shaped and from where it journeys forth. What it ultimately intends is that each of its individuals would develop the capacity to be at home in themselves.

In a sense that is exactly what spirituality is: the art of homecoming.

John O’Donohue
To Bless the Space Between Us

REMAIN

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Remain in me
that's what you say
The reality is few
choose to stay

The heart shares, sees
joys, sunrises, sorrow, pain
Shares each of these
with another that
leaves
And does not remain

What pulls the roots
What shifts the tide
What makes it impossible
to remain by your side

Weights of loss and
mirages of maybes
move a life, remove a life
Away from
where it once lived
and grew
and loved

Remain in me
is what you say
To be here
alone, never alone
is to begin
yet again
to remain  

Jared Ray Mackey