Thursday, September 23, 2010

May today there be peace within

“Don’t be anxious,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel (Mk 6:34). But frankly, I’ve been wondering how we are supposed to do that in this terrifying world in which we live. I sometimes wake up in the 3 a.m. “hour of the dragon” and am faced with some of the challenges facing people of every nation and the very health of fragile earth.

I could list all those things that seem to be going wrong around us, and so could you. I could tell stories of people I know and love, stories from my Sisters and our guests in the monastery that underscore the risky world we live in. So could you from your own experience. You and I know we sometimes sit around and spin the risk until we are looking at a catastrophe. So what are we to do?

In 1908 the poet Minnie Louise Haskins published the poem “The Gate of Year,” part of a collection titled The Desert. Her poem was widely acclaimed as inspirational, reaching its first mass audience in the early days of the Second World War. Those of us who lived some portion of those years, or who have since studied that time in history, know that it, too, was a risky time threatening mass destruction of the world. Haskins wrote in part: "And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied: 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.' So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. "

What was there in that poem that caught the imagination of people of all nations? For those of us who believe in a God who desires only our good, it seems an affirmation that we can trust God. In our times of anxiety, it seems a better light and safer way than anything else.

St. Therese of Lisieux born 85 years before Minnie wrote her poem, offers us comparable words of trust in the midst of this age of anxiety:

Today may there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is here for each and every one of us.

10 comments:

  1. Can you cite the original source of the St. Therese quote above. I've always thought it was from St. Therese, but have since had people tell me no, it's Mother Teresa and some say St.Teresa of Avila. HELP!!!

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  2. Bella, I asked S. Kate and she said hwen she googled it, up came Mother Teresa! So we're really not sure now... She just always associated it with St. Therese of Lisieux, but can't put her finger on this source!

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    1. Hi - if you go to www.motherteresa.org, you will see this is one of the quotes wrongly attributed to Mother Teresa.

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    2. Beautiful quote. But for those who know Therese well it does not sound like her words! Can't always trust those Google sources. And I have not read it in her poetry. Her other poems bear a different spirituality (whether it be early or later ones).

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  3. This is apparently a New Age type prayer incorrectly attributed to a number of Catholic saints.

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    1. I have a very strong memory that I wrote this many years ago when my son was just a wee baby. I was in a yoga teacher training at the time, just reaquainting myself with the idea of God and balancing a baby, a computer, petting my dog with my foot and having been up studying all night. I fell away from the faith but, in that yoga space, spirituality was welcome and the univererse was acceptable to talk about. I have a memory of posting that very poem as an intro to me of sorts on FB, someone asking me to share it, but having felt embarassed, I deleted it. That would have been in 2003/2004. I then saw the poem again in a chain mail that a friend sent me a few years after that. It really blew me away because of that memory I have of having written it, the embarrassment of having felt my words/exploration of faith being too flimsy at the time, and knowing I deleted it quickly after it was shared. I thought, "Poor St. Therese or Mother Teresa. Their faith was strong. I was just exploring and this was the best I could come up with." In any case, I was reminded to start trying to confirm the origins of this poem again the other day when I saw another one of my writings, this time, a prayer, that was shared on a faith page. This time, I found the original in my journal. I may never know for sure if I imagined having written the poem above myself or if it's my mind playing tricks on me. Either way, it's good to see how much it has touched others. Michelle Wenis

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  4. Did you find out its source? Thanks.

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  5. https://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/therese-lisieux-quotes
    The Carmelite website contains some quotes by St. Therese of Lisieux which include some of the lines from the poem.

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  6. Tired an sick of way USA an World family is wish pray protection Marrianna an myself nun maybe peace heal walk again normal Jeff to be completely saved delivered an all family an world transformed to Russia consecrated sacred heart Jesus an Mary🙏

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