November 1, 2007

Everything within us cries out for You, Lord. Everything outside of us reminds us of You. Though we don’t know it, we are always running in search of You, hoping to find You in each shadow that we stop to rest in. But we are like wounded soldiers hobbling on one foot, returning from battle with glazed eyes and shattered memories. We long for the days of our youth when we were pure and innocent like fresh snow upon a vacant hillside.

I am reminded of the teenage girl I spoke to who is pregnant and whose parents are trying to force her into having an abortion. I am reminded of the drug dealing that goes on outside my window, and the prostitutes down the street who pace back and forth like nervous schoolchildren looking to sell “love.” I am reminded of my own attempts to seek happiness in my accomplishments and to build my identity upon what others may think of me.

What tangled webs we make of life sometimes, Lord! Will our tears convert us or make us proud? How much will we have to suffer until we allow ourselves to humbly fall into Your arms? For we are made for You. Like the stars in the nighttime sky, without You we disappear like smoke, and every trace of our existence vanishes into oblivion.

You, Lord, are light, the light that announces a new day, the light that undresses creation in majestic splendor, and the light that reminds the universe, “There is One greater than I, and He is my destiny.” Everything within us wants to say, “Arise my soul; let us go to meet Him.” Somewhere along the way, without warning, we fall asleep inside another shadow, forcing You to wait while we squirm and gasp for air like fish out of water.

Come Lord Jesus, lay Your hands upon us and pick us up from our drunken stupor. Come Lord Jesus, remove the blindness of our eyes that we may once again see Beauty and become speechless in Your sight. Come Lord Jesus, open our ears once again, that the sound of Truth might convert our hearts into burning flames of love. Come Lord Jesus, open our mouths, that our voices will become songs of praise causing even the stones to cry out Your name. Come Lord Jesus, for without You we will bury ourselves alive in these empty shadows!

Br. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR

St. Leopold Friary, Yonkers, NY

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