Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world:
Grant us your peace.
Praying for Ukraine
And Russia
And for the whole world
Please pray with me
Grace and peace to you
and to the whole world…
dw
Photo by dw
I cannot make good choices unless I develop a mature and prudent conscience that gives me an accurate account of my motives, my intentions, and my moral acts.
Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island, “Conscience, Freedom, and Prayer”
The immature conscience is one that bases its judgments partly, or even entirely, on the way other people seem to be disposed toward its decisions. The good is what is admired or accepted by the people it lives with. The evil is what irritates or upsets them.
The immature conscience is not its own master. It is merely the delegate of the conscience of another person, or of a group, or of a party, or of a social class, or of a nation, or of a race. Therefore, it does not make real moral decisions of its own, it simply parrots the decisions of others. It does not make judgments of its own, it merely “conforms” to the party line.
It makes true love impossible. For if I am to love truly and freely, I must be able to give something that is truly my own to another. If my heart does not first belong to me, how can I give it to another? It is not mine to give!
There is nothing new under the sun.
What we bemoan now we bemoaned seventy years ago
Seven hundred years ago
What we give away now, we gave away then
The freedom Jesus promised
To burn at the stake
To defy a tank
To hang on the cross
For the truth
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Listen to your lives for the sound of him.
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “Delay”
Search even in the dark for the light and the love and the life because they are there also, and we are known each one by name.
How can one hear a whisper
The whisper we each long to hear
I know you and I love you
And I will lead you to Life
If you will follow
How can one hear that whisper
Over the blaring TV screen
The even louder unsocial media
Telling us we are No Good
Unless we show this color
Drive this vehicle
Fly this flag
Wear these shoes
All hollering you are No Good
Unless you spend this extra dollar
Over the subterranean rumble
Signals from family:
You aren’t who we hoped you would be
How can one hear that whisper
Over the substances we use
To kill the pain of being No Good
The loudest voices of all
Telling us, time and time again,
You are No Good
Is there any hearing left
Any ability to discern?
Oh God, have mercy
Whisper loudly
Listen to your lives for the sound of him.
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “Delay”
Search even in the dark for the light and the love and the life because they are there also, and we are known each one by name.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Photo by dw
becoming flame 