Here is a short video showing the fascinating restoration effort made to save the 6th century Salus Populi Romani icon of the Mother of God, which was introduced here in last Tuesday's post. Open your screen fully.
However wonderful the icon's cleaning and repair, perhaps of even more urgent importance is our own need for restoration - a return to wholeness and health for individuals, families, the nation, the Church, the planet itself.
Delighting in the restoration of your icon, O Lady,
we ask for our own return to health and wellness, in...
the epidemic of our drug addiction,
the pestilence of gun lust,
the anguish of parents for the safety of their children,
the groan of the world living in poverty,
the contagion of our militarization,
the debility of our planet destruction,
the contagion of our militarization,
the debility of our planet destruction,
the disease of distrust,
the bedevilment of our consumerism,
the malady of non-transformative religion,
the blight of resentment,
the torment of those who are hoping to be welcomed,
the contagion of blaming,
the contagion of blaming,
the affliction of self-deception,
the ailment of despair,
the scourge of non-questioning,
the illness of our disinterest,
the infection of this ruinous partisanship,
the sickness of all this killing,
the epidemic of our hatred,
the malady of power-quest,
the malignancy of superiority,
the toxicity of power-lies,
the infirmity of our ignorance,
the disorder of our wasteful greed.
the sickness of all this killing,
the epidemic of our hatred,
the malady of power-quest,
the malignancy of superiority,
the toxicity of power-lies,
the infirmity of our ignorance,
the disorder of our wasteful greed.
Mother of Restoration,
of soundness,
of well-being,
may we inhale your brightness,
of soundness,
of well-being,
may we inhale your brightness,
your luminous delicacy,
your searching gaze,
your spirit filled mind.
Amen.
Amen.
