Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Receive a Child in My Name



Receive a Child in My Name

 October 2, 2012
Memorial of the Guardian Angels

By Beth DeCristofaro

(Jesus) called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,  "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.  And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.  (Matthew 18:2-5)

Piety

A Blessing of Angels

May the Angels in their beauty bless you.
May they turn toward you streams of blessing.

May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart
To come alive to the eternal within you,
To all the invitations that quietly surround you.

May the Angel of Healing turn your wounds
Into sources of refreshment.

May the Angel of the Imagination enable you
To stand on the true thresholds,
At ease with your ambivalence
And drawn in new direction
Through the glow of your contradictions.

May the Angel of Compassion open your eyes
To the unseen suffering around you.

May the Angel of Wildness disturb the places
Where your life is domesticated and safe,
Take you to the territories of true otherness

Where all that is awkward in you
Can fall into its own rhythm.

May the Angel of Eros introduce you
To the beauty of your senses
To celebrate your inheritance
As a temple of the holy spirit.

May the Angel of Justice disturb you
To take the side of the poor and the wronged.

May the Angel of Encouragement confirm you
In worth and self-respect,
That you may live with the dignity
That presides in your soul.

May the Angel of Death arrive only
When your life is complete
And you have brought every given gift
To the threshold where its infinity can shine.

May all the Angels be your sheltering
And joyful guardians.

From "To Bless The Space Between Us" by John O'Donohue

Study

Reading this lovely prayer/poem by John O’Donohue is as inspiring as the news today was disturbing.   I’m wondering what Jesus would say if he read this morning’s Washington Post with it’s interview of Lee Boyd Malvo.  He is a man whose memories of childhood are severely disfigured by the influence of a malevolent man.  Malvo must now live with the fact that he is a murderer. 

Would Jesus cry at the recent stories of a pimp who ran a teen age prostitution ring in Fairfax County?  Do angels weep at the stream of stories about adults who mistreat children in their care every day?  Children are abused, scorned, neglected, bullied and humiliated every day in our own neighborhoods and around the world.  God asked angels to look after us, His beloved children.  Those of us He has set above the angels, can we dare not do likewise?

Action

The USCCB has guidelines about human trafficking, welfare, forced labor, and more.  What can we do to “receive our children in His name?


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