For the infinitesimal point that exploded into the universeI am grateful
For the eons of unfolding that led to this moment
I am grateful
For the miracle that anything exists
I am grateful
For the wonder of continuous creation
I am grateful
For the glory of the cosmos
I am grateful
For this amazing and beautiful planet
I am grateful
For the emergence of life
I am grateful
For reflective consciousnessI am grateful
For the surprising fact that I am alive
I am grateful
For all the wonders I have experienced
I am grateful
For all the love I have received
I am grateful
For every act of kindness and compassion in the world
I am grateful
For the myriad species that populate the earth
I am grateful
For every newborn and each unfolding flower
I am grateful
For air to breathe and water to drink
I am grateful
For light and warmth and the energies of creation
I am grateful
For stories and song and danceI am grateful
For the sharing of meals and laughter
I am grateful
For companions on our journey
I am grateful
For every gentle touch and warm embrace
I am grateful
For Light and Word and Truth and Wisdom
I am grateful
For faith and hope and love
I am grateful
For the entire fabric of existence
I am grateful
For all of it
I am grateful
--the BB
Photos: V838 Monocerotis Light Echo-October 2004 (Hubble Telescope) courtesy NASA; Puddle near the railroad tracks, Hercules, California, January 17, 2003 (PES); Herminia Ramos, bereaved Salvadoran mother (source uncertain).
11 comments:
For my partner/lover/soulmate
who is alive today
a year after the doctors told us
they didn't know why she wasn't dead
I am grateful
For S, who was there then
and is here now
I am grateful
For those I love who are too much
For those I fear who were too little
For all who belong to one another
in the struggle
I am grateful
yours in the struggle,
max
Thanks for this, Paul. It's a lovely poem-prayer, (or should that be prayer-poem?) and the pictures add just the right touch.
Thank you, Max. That is beautiful but even more beautiful is the joy and gratitude and reality underlying it.
I am also grateful for people I meet here and elsewhere online who share their journeys with strangers and uphold each other with grace.
((((Max))))
((((Grandmere))))
((((Buddhapalian))))
I am thankful for community everywhere we find it--for startlingly real internet friendships and for the convergence of circumstances by which Max and I met.
All love is of God.
Each of you, in your own ways, uphold me with grace. Particularly now, I am thankful beyond words.
I couldn't read this deeply, until I'd written my own. I'm very glad I came back to it.
Your being thankful for "the entire fabric of existence", reminds me to be. Thank you.
Paul, darling, that is a beautiful prayer for today, and for it I am grateful. You are such a good priest, on an off-line. Blessings and thanks.
Off to my friends who have announced that we are having pumpkin gnocchi. (Made with local organic pumpkins.) With sage-butter sauce.
A lovely prayer, Paul.
Thanks for being who you are and sharing the love of Christ with us all.
And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from Panamá.
Oh, Jane, orgasmic pumpkin gnocchi with sage butter sauce--how heavenly! I am so relieved that you did not leave the Gourmet Ghetto for a culinary wasteland, though a culinary wasteland cannot co-exist with your presence. Still, it's reassuring.
I have just popped my contribution into the oven. As soon as it's done I will head off to Bill's for the family do. I have mingled yams with granny smith apples sauteed in about one cup of Jack Daniels, 2.5 cubes of butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, chopped pecans, lemon juice, salt & pepper. The grand melange is topped with bread crumbs, more choppped pecans, and dotted with more, yes, butter. We'll see how it turns out this year. I have done some combination of apples with sweet potatoes or yams for many years now, always improvising. Never as sweet as candied yams, never adulterated with miniature marshmallows (I don't care for marshmallows of any size), usually pushing toward savory (I have used herbs and lots of pepper and kept the brown sugar reduced).
I stopped at Bill's before Mass last night and he had roasted many turkey wings and was making the stock for gravy therewith, all before the turkey soi-même got started. We should have lots of gravy (the Safford side of my family will be pleased).
Peace be upon all peoples this day and may we all learn to do a better job of sharing our blessings.
I am very grateful today and every day for those who share Christ's love online and in person. Y'all brighten my days and comfort my nights and give me courage and joy.
Love to all our relations in Panamá and elsewhere.
Mitakuye oyasin!
Actually, I misspoke, it was sweet potato gnocchi not pumpkin -- I wasn't terribly awake when I wrote. But it was perfect with the sage butter and the California pinot noir. And that was just the first course.
I have not landed in a wasteland. It's not California, but we do have organic farms and tasteful gay men who cook. (What, you think those gnocchi came from hetero hands?) (I know, stereotype, but still, it's based in some kind of reality.)
Then I went to the hospital on a quick pastoral call and now I am home digesting. I give thanks for my online and incarnate friends and lift a virtual glass to you -- with or without alcohol depending on your preference.
Please say a prayer for the beloved of one of my students who has just gone sober and is wrestling with many other realities besides substances. There is a lot of suffering among young adults.
And thanks for the earth upon which we walk, for the indigenous people who walked here long before we did, and for the Creator who breathed and breathes us into being.
Thank you, Paul, for giving back to me
the great good gifts
for which
I am
so grateful
thanks be to God
yours in the struggle,
max
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