A meditation from Pray Now 2011 – submitted by Maureen Small
St.John of the Cross offers a simple insight from the metaphor of faith as a journey. There are times on the journey when our road. drops down into a valley. At such times, we lose sight of our destination. This does not mean that every step we take does not bring us closer to our goal.
When the horizon of possibilities disappears,
the endless, rolling plain of “I might do this …..or that…”
when, as I press on, the middle distance of “I will be there soon
if I can just get through this”
sinks beneath the rising ridge of now, and what’s next,
when there is only one thing left to do —
or even nothing, just this to be faced — be with me, Lord,
that I may be with you.
When there is no escape from this minute — or the moment that comes next,
the moment I dread:
when there is nowhere else I can be,
grasp me in love and grace,
hold me in the moment,
help me to grasp it, by doing what must be done,
and if there is nothing to be done,
help me to go into it, to be in it,
in you.
God of the Exodus, God of Gethsemane,
God of the journey,
remind me of your promise to faith:
of a way, not round, or out,
but through.