Saturday, March 17, 2012

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, and in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

                                                                                - Prayer of Saint Patrick

     St Patrick was kidnapped at the age of 16 and enslaved in Ireland for 6 years.  During his captivity, feeling alone and afraid, Patrick turned to his faith for solace.  It was during his dark days of slavery that he developed the intimate relationship with God that would bring him back to his home, become a priest, and choose to bring the Gospel back to where he was a slave.

     What an incredible story of transformation.  To have your life as you know it taken away;  to be forced to live and work as a slave in a foreign land, to be removed from all that you love, all that brings you security and joy - and then to find a love so profound, so secure, so encapsulating that you devote your life to bringing to your captors. 

     This transforming love is available to each and every one of us.  We do not need to be slave to experience it.  We do not need to live in darkness to seek it.  We can seek it today, in our everyday lives - for the dark days will come, and like Patrick, we will have this faith upon which we can rely.

     Christ is present everywhere.  Christ surrounds us and lives within us.  Christ is waiting to join us in our day, guiding us, loving us, and transforming us.  Today, let us use this prayer as our guide.  Let us visualize this prayer and carry it throughout the day.  What will be different about how we think, how we speak, and how we respond to whatever comes before us if we realize we are surrounded by the energy of Jesus, who loved us so much he reached out his arms on the cross and died for us?

Prayer:  Transforming God, open our hearts and minds this day so that we can experience the power of your love - a love that surrounds and sustains us through our joys and our sorrows, through our sometimes mundane, sometimes chaotic lives.  Help us to be so aware of your constant presence within and around us that we are transformed into disciples of this love to help you transform the world.