Renew
Response: I Will See God in the World Around Me — Cheryl
Prayer After Communion
Look with kindness upon your people, O Lord,
and grant, we pray,
that those you were pleased to renew by eternal mysteries
may attain in their flesh
the incorruptible glory of the resurrection.
Through Christ our Lord.
I encountered that prayer this morning, on the pages of Magnificat. It’s part of today’s Mass.
Jessica wrote yesterday that renew “implies a strengthening of purpose, a firming of resolution, a clarification of vision.” The time I spend with Magnificat each morning firms my resolution and clarifies my vision like nothing else does, not even weekly Mass, where I simply cannot focus for more than five minutes.
Jessica’s violet sent me out to the yard in search of flowers, but I found few of them. Almost all of the crocuses are dead, and thus far, only a couple of daffodils and dandelions have renewed themselves. So, I picked a small branch from one of the lilac bushes, a branch showing signs of renewal.
When I entered the house, I made for my studio and placed my tiny branch on one of my art journal pages, because few things in life renew my soul, my creativity, and my resolve like making marks on paper, laying down paint and pastels, sticking bits and pieces of my life to page and writing about a frustration or a feeling in one of my journals.
It’s good to be back.