“This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”
John O'Donohue
Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay. Maya Angelou
This is a beautiful video called "If this Time" and is voiced by Kevin McCormack. It is well worth a look and a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFRlV-9nFAI&feature=youtu.be
Imagine
​
Imagine with me for a moment-----
don't worry, I'm not saying it's real.
Imagine, if you can, that there has been
not a calamity, but a great awakening.
Pretend, just for a moment,
that we all so loved our threatened earth
that we stopped going on cruises,
limited international flights,
worked on cherishing the places
we already are.
In this pretty fantasy, everyone who possibly can
stops commuting. Spends the extra time
with their kids or pets or garden.
WE have the revelation that everyone
needs health care, sick leave, steady work.
It occurs to us that health care workers
are heroes. Also teachers.
Not to mention the artists of all kinds
who teach us resilience and joy.
Imagine, if you will,
that we turned to our neighbours
in mutual aid, trading eggs for milk,
checking in on those who are elderly
or alone. Imagine that each of us
felt suddenly called to wonder
'In this moment , what does the world
need from me? What are my gifts?'
Yes, I know it is just a fantasy.
The world could never change
so radically overnight.
But imagine.
​
Lynn Ungar
lynnungar.com
When this is over,
​
may we never again
take for granted
A handshake with a stranger
Full shelves at the store
Conversations with neighbors
A crowded theatre
Friday night out
The taste of communion
A routine checkup
The school rush each morning
Coffee with a friend
The stadium roaring
Each deep brath
A boring Tuesday
Life itself.
When this ends,
may we find
that we have become
more like the people we wanted to be
we were called to be
we hoped to be
And may we stay
that way- better
for each other
because of the worst.
Laura Kelly Fanucci
Prayer for a Pandemic,
by Cameron Bellm:
 

May we who are merely inconvenienced

remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors

remember those most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home

remember those who must choose between

preserving their health or making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our
children when their schools close

remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips

remember those that have no safe place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money
 in the tumult of the economic market

remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a quarantine at home

remember those who have no home.

As fear grips our country, let us choose love.

During this time when we cannot physically

wrap our arms around each other,

let us yet find ways to be the loving
 embrace of God to our neighbors. 
Amen.
​
​
​
​
​
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu -
Blessed are the elderly, and the immunosuppressed
Blessed are the fearful, the anxious and irritable
Blessed are the ones who use humor to get by
The ones who could use a vacation anyway
The ones who fear for their life
Blessed are the ones who are sick of it:
All the flawed logic, the security theater
Blessed are the ones who cry out “this is why we need a safety net! a kinder society! a new world!”
Blessed are the health care workers, the administrators catching heat for every decision, the messengers with no power over the message
Blessed are the sad, and the lonely
Blessed are the healthy and the sick,
The well and the unwell
Blessed are all of us just trying to do our best
Blessed are those who stay kind and clear, who keep our eyes open to each other
Blessed is our neighbor
Blessed are we all
Blessed are we all
Blessed are we all
Lee Allison Paczulla, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Philadelphia.
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested,
and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of
being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some
prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began
to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant,
dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they
grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images,
and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.
Kitty O’Meara
Pat Mayberry has written an amazing chant for Healing Pathway called light of Christ. Click on the link below to hear it. A good mantra for these times
Child of the universe.
​
I am a child of the universe.
She puts her almighty protection around me.
I am free from accidents, death, and sickness.
I am now shining with golden light from top to toe.
I am her chosen protected child, and she is my shield.
The winds shall aid my progress.
Water shall cleanse me from fear,
Fire will purify my doubts.
And the earth shall nourish me to health.
All is well, all is well, all is well.
​
Zsuzsanna E. Budapest
Prayer from the Indigenous Ministries and Justice Circle:
Creator, God,
We ask you to be with us.
We pray for those who are ill, and for those we cannot be with as closely as we wish.
When we are afraid, help us to remember and be grateful for:
Water, which gives life.
The land, which sustains us and restores us to health.
The wisdom of Elders, who guide us.
Our young people, who deserve a bright future.
Our strength and resilience, which will bring us to a new day.
Help our leaders respond appropriately to the specific needs of Indigenous communities.
Help us to walk compassionately with all who are ill or afraid.
Help us to understand that we are all relatives.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
Lockdown
​
A Reflection by Brother Richard Hendrick OFM
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them. They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on. Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love. Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love. Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
13 March 2020
A Prayer from “Unfolding Light”
Steve Garnass-Holmes
Holy One you are my shepherd; I shall not want.
You make me lie down in green pastures; you lead
me beside still waters;
—Psalm 23:1
Things change. Seasons turn. Life goes on.
But your will for our wholeness is steadfast.
You shepherd us through dark valleys,
but we shall come to green pastures.
On this first day of a new season
I open my heart
to your turning of the earth within me,
the always-renewing of life.
The shadows I see are not everything.
The valleys I pass through are not the end.
All things you renew, all things you transform.
I give myself up to your shepherding.
You bury the seeds of joy in me.
I pray for trust.
I wait with you for their fruiting.
I pray for hope.
Fully present in this present moment,
I surrender to the gentle tipping of the earth,
the green pasture I can't yet see,
your unseen grace emerging even now.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
*Unfolding Light *
www.unfoldinglight.net