Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community - Moment of Oneness - June 3, 2020

Water lily by Denise Hackert-Stoner

OPENING PRAYER

Tonight, Dear One, we gather in the long light of early summer and give you thanks for the gift of this beautiful light. Let us pray that its brilliance and clarity fill us, allowing us to see you as you are: in this universe, in this world, in every creature, in every person, in each of us, at this time, in this place. For this we pray. Amen.

READING

The Ponds by Mary Oliver

Every year
the lilies
are so perfect
I can hardly believe

their lapping light crowding the black,
mid-summer ponds.
Nobody could count all of them—

the muskrats swimming
can reach out and touch
only so many, they are that
rife and wild.

But what in this world
is perfect?

I bend closer and see
how this one is clearly lopsided--
and that one wears an orange blight--
and this one is a glossy cheek
half nibbled away--
and that one is a slumped purse
full of its own
unstoppable decay.

Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled--
to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing--
that the light is everything--that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

And shouldn't we all?

SILENT REFLECTION

PETITIONS

Reader: Infinite Light, illuminate the path to peace and give us the courage to follow it. For this we pray.

All: Hold us in your Light.

Reader: Infinite Light, illuminate the path to justice and give us the compassion to follow it. For this we pray.

All: Hold us in your Light.

Reader: Infinite Light, Illuminate the path to healing and give us the clarity of mind to follow it. For this we pray.

All: Hold us in your Light.

Reader: At this time let us silently add our own petitions. (Pause)

Reader: For these we pray.

All: Hold us in your Light.

CLOSING PRAYER

Living Light, it is in awe and wonder that we open ourselves to your warmth and brilliance. As the summer sun begins to dawn to its fullest in this early June we see all the earth give thanks. And we join the chorus of gratitude for this, your gift to our fields and forests, our gardens and flowers, and our hope, even in adversity.

All: Amen.