A Scottish Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire,
So that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it.
And may light shine out of the two eyes of you,
Like a candle set in the window of a house,
Bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm.

May the blessing of the rain be on you,
May it beat upon your Spirit
And wash it fair and clean,
And leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines,
And sometimes a star.

May the blessing of the earth be on you,
Soft under your feet as you pass along the roads,
Soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day;
And may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you
That your soul may be out from under it quickly;
Up and off and on its way to God.
And now may the Lord bless you, and bless you kindly.
Amen.

From East To West: Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross

"We will see [...] the terrible and mighty second person of the Holy Trinity wrapping himself in flesh, pulling the pain and suffering of humanity about his shoulders. And, though it scratches and burns something awful, that divine being, desperately desiring the reconciliation of a creation that has become estranged, wraps that flesh around him until he begins bleeding in his palms and in his feet.

Because humanity knows the pain of flesh wrapped around you."




The rest of his post is absolutely beautiful - please read it.

Bad Theology 101

"Jesus is coming back soon to slay the wicked and remove the righteous from the earth before he destroys it"


"This is all part of God's plan for your life"


"Heaven helps those that help themselves"



"If you do something for God, God will do something for you"


"If you don't believe in Jesus, you're going straight to hell"


"Hell is a place of fire and brimstone, of eternal torment"


"God kills the wicked"


"The Bible is also a history, biology, chemistry, astronomy, physics, and geology textbook"


"God says it, I believe it, that settles it"


"Give your life to Christ and God will take away all your burdens"


"Religion is a comfort crutch for the weak-minded, a pre-conceived paradigm to make decisions more easily"


(If it makes your life easier, you ain't doin' it right.)

Six Years Later

Lord
Take me where you want me to go,
Let me meet who you want me to meet
Tell me what you want me to say, and keep me out of your way.
-Fr.Mychal Judge, FDNY Chaplain

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.