Lenten Gleanings 2011: Vespers (EvenSong) or the Twilight Hours

Day's Passing

You invite me to come

As the rays of the setting sun

Slide like waves back into the ocean's depths.

Come, dine with me in celestial places.

Let us sup together in this twilight hour.

And I come.

I ward off the hounds of things undone and dangling,

Ignore their lusty howls and close the door of my closet

To gratefully relax in the warm spa of your companionship.

Together we watch the blazing glory of sunset,

The veil between our worlds so thin

Heaven and earth kiss.

You light the lamps of eternal shining stars,

Your hand brushing my face.

The intimacy of your caress

Fills my deepest longing.

I receive day's end, content.

Lenten Gleanings 2011: Wisdom Hour being Midafternoon

Teach Me to Die Before I Die

All day I learn to die little deaths

Killing sinful thoughts and deeds.

In that dying,

Life is released.

I raise the candle of waning light

Pasuing in my work to illumine Truth

To see what was before,

What must now come.

Resolute in the knowledge

I turn my face toward the darkness

To move forward in wisdom

While the last rays of light

Slant towards evening.

With slow purposeful steps

My soul embraces God's sacred trust.

I lay aside my labors,

Willing, by God's grace,

To end this day well

And at peace.

Lenten Gleanings 2011: The Hour of Illumination being Midday

Noon

How the brilliant clarity of noon,

Sans shadow, reveals my broken places.

Truth's glare ferrets out all petty sins.

Here at the cusp of waxing and waning,

At the apex of light where all can be seen,

You have spread a table before me.

Come, forgiven daughter.

Be nourished with peace, with grace.

I linger at table,

Warmed by your joyous laughter,

Bathed in the company of your love.

Your light pours through my being

Until I am glowing

And I wonder -

Will the filament of my commitment

Bear the light beyond the tablecloth?