Pray for peace — here at home

Please, may all of us take a deep breath, and pray for peace here at home, among us. The kind of hatred that the McCain/Palin camp is stoking right now is very dangerous. We ALL need to step back from this brink and embrace each other, and remember that we are called to love our neighbor, even that neighbor we might name as enemy.

Here is a blessing from John O’Donohue’s recent book To Bless the Space Between Us:

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.

When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence has become raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.

When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May your souls come to kiss.

Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Toward the gateway to spring.