CONSTANTCY
You never change O Lord,
How constant is your love
The strength I need in times
of weakness and weariness.
Knowing that you are within
Renewing and refreshing me
with embracing love
healing many woes.
You are my rock and refuge
a very present help in trouble
You are always there
my Comforter and Delight.
BREAD OF LIFE
Dare I tread the sanctuary of holiness
to receive the Bread of Life?
That Bread from Heaven
Promised by the Lord.
My feet want to run
for the eternal Food
But my hands draw back;
I falter; I hesitate.
Why do I not run?
My unworthiness taunts me.
Until You whisper
come and eat at My Table.
I did sup with the Lord
and tasted its fruits
of pure delight;
My Lord and my God.
PENITENCE – based on Psalm 51
Lord, have mercy upon me,
Holy God, Holy and Immortal,
Have mercy upon a contrite sinner.
My sin is ever before me
Without Your cleansing spirit
I should wither and die.
Yet Your Holy Spirit
on contrition purifies
making me as white as snow.
NEW EVERY MORNING
As the watchman waits for the morn
I wait for Thee in the breaking of the Bread.
No words can adequately express the joy
in receiving the Lord of life.
That precious moment is a taste of heaven
Where I shall behold Your face,
Never more to leave Thy presence
Rapt in perpetual adoration.
As yet I cannot linger in adoration
You I must take to the world
Love must mingle in a fallen world
To bring healing and hope.
MORNING BREAKS
Refreshed by sleep
To greet the morning
but no, the Lord of creation.
I call upon Your Spirit to stir within
to sing my praise for yet another day
of Thy wonder and magnificence.
Yet I need your help to let me be
what you want me to be that very day
Veni, Sancte Spiritus, veni.
ABUNDANCY
How can I ever praise and thank You enough my God. .
How can I ever praise and thank You
enough my God.
How can I ever praise and thank You
enough my God.
You have made me,
Begins my praise and thanks to thee.
SEARCHING
I cannot touch you, Lord.
What is it that separates?
TURN, TURN TURN.
You, Lord, turn the shadows
of life into bright sunshine;
You turn the terrors of night into peaceful waters.
You turn my painful tears
into laughter and joy;
You turn my agonising loneliness
into knowing your presence;
You turn the fear of sickness
into calm acceptance;
You turn the dread of death
into a blessed journey.
COMPASSION
The Lord of compassion,
Look graciously upon
your fragile beings.
Hurting others with a glance;
stunned silence, hateful words,
ostracising from loved ones.
Lord, help me to see
all life is your creation;
all time is Yours.
Without Your grace we forget Your law;
to love you with all our being;
to love each other gracefully.
REFLECTION ON PSALM 84
What a deep yearning
to be in the Lord's house;
Rejoicing in His presence,
Nourished with heavenly Food.
The sparrow felt so too,
building her nest
to lay her young
so close to the altar.
Birds of the air
praise God in singing;
Mankind reverence God
Worshipping in His house.
MY DELIGHT
What is my delight if not You?
You who made the vast universe,
made also our intricate bodies
and planted Your essence within.
I see you in the break of day,
darkness giving way to
streaking greyish light,
welcomes a new beginning.
I see you in the soft rain;
The land swept clean.
The desert coming alive
with flaming colours.
I see you in the rainbow,
a reminder of Your covenant
To follow Your laws
A reminder of your beautiful world.
I see You in an exqiste rose
its delicacy a reminder
of my fragility
without Your fragrance.
I see You in the mother
soothing her weeping child
I see You in the father,
praying with his family.
I see you in the teacher
coaxing a backward child;
I see you in the bus driver,
helping the disabled aboard.
I see you in the smile of the old
crippled with arthritis;
I see you in the caregiver’s gentleness
for another patient dying.
I see you within my very self,
panting as the deer for water
leading me to refreshments
content You are within.
ESSENCE
God is love,
Who taught us love
and how we can love
if we follow His way.
Love asks for openness,
sincerity in all our actions,
never makes excuses
or blaming others.
Love does not harbour grudges,
love offers a smile to all.
love forgives and seeks forgiveness,
love says, “I am sorry.”
Love seeks to unite,
Wrapping others in warmth
with hugs and hugs,
and comforting words.
Love sees Christ in all
wanting to reach out
even to the hard to love
as well as the lovely.
Perhaps you may ask?
How can I love?
as the blessed Lord taught?
In the silence of your heart
listen to His gentle voice.
Let that be your guide.
THE SPARK OF LIFE
Spirit of the living God anew each day,
Kindle in me that divine spark
To anchor me in the Father’s will.
Drive from me all that hinders
The work of the Spirit,
So my heart loves only Thee.
To seek out the shut-ins
With a smile and Sacrament
To brighten their day gladly.
For the neighbour also,
a word of needed comfort
in moments of unease.
In between all this
my heart lifts to Thee
ever so often in the day.
FIRST LIGHT
My feet sink deep in the sodden sand,
Streaks of light break the darkness,
beckoning another beginning,
As it was in the beginning.
The continuous crashing of waves,
swirling around my feet,
Reminding me of daily work.
Of Adam to till the earth.
Yet their quick demise,
announces the fleetingness
of daily labour and death.
The punishment of Adam’s sin.
As dawn awakens fully
with the business of the sun.
The Son stirs within,
You live in the new creation.
