Intercessions ~ Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August Dahlia ~ Vulcan

Pope Francis travels to Ireland this week to participate in the world meeting of families./ We pray for a Church that heals and welcomes families in their struggle and variety./ We pray to the Lord.

California's fires and Florida's toxic red tides are catastrophic environmental disasters./ We pray for this planet/ which sustains our lives./ May we take better care./ We pray to the Lord.

August is a month of abundance./ We ask for aware and grateful hearts/ praying for those who never know abundance,/ but only loss and deprivation./ May we be eager to share./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask to be personally healed of any sense of  failure,/ guilt and shame we might still carry./ May we know that love of God which long ago accepted our contrite hearts/ and is pleased for our best efforts./ We pray to the Lord.

Bless our families and friends with peace,/ health and security./ Give us greatness of soul which remembers every good thing done to us,/ putting to rest any evil we have had to endure./ Forgive the harm we may have done to others./ We pray to the Lord.

Grateful for those relationships which have brought joy and growth over the years,/ we also pray for those who have died,/ asking for them the healing and fullness of life in God/ which we call heaven./ We pray to the Lord. 

Feast of the Assumption ~ Dormition

Duccio di Buoninsegna ~ Dormition of the Mother of God

Here are three liturgical hymns from the Byzantine Church for the Feast of the Dormition, which the Latin Church calls, Assumption.

Irmos

The angels, witnessing the Dormition of the Most Pure Theotokos, were struck with wonder as they saw the Virgin going up from earth to heaven.

Troparion

In giving birth, O Mother of God, you preserved your virginity and in your falling asleep you did not forsake the world. Being the Mother of Life, you have passed over into life, and by your payers you deliver our souls from death.

Kontakion

Neither the grave nor death have detained the Mother of God, who continues to pray for us and who, by her intercession, remains our unfailing hope; for He, Who dwelt in her ever-virgin womb, has transferred her to life as the Mother of Life.

~ ~ ~

And, from an 8th century homily of St. John Damascene, in which the tomb of the Mother of  God speaks to the Church through the ages. We might pray for the healing of our Church.

"Now the Angels keep watch over me. Now the divine grace dwells in me. I have become a well of healing for the sick, a defense against demons, a refuge to those who fly to me. Draw near in faith, you people, and you will receive grace in streams.

Happy Feast Day to everyone!

Transplanting Iris: Anticipation and Imagination

An iris root is called a rhizome: a fleshy system that grows horizontally and very near the soil surface. After three or four years the rhizomes are exhausted and weak. Fewer or no flowers are the clues. The rhizomes need to be dug and broken up - the spent and unhealthy parts disposed of. Whatever is clean and salvageable can then be planted in a different place or in the same spot with the soil first renewed.

July and August are the months for transplanting iris as they need weeks of warm soil to grow new roots before the heaving frosts. So it is a time of imagining and anticipation. How will all this investment of time and energy pay off? What will the garden look like next May. 

Living in the moment, to be sure, but the spiritual life also allows for some imagination and anticipation - some wonder!

I might anticipate or imagine

my country unified again,

caring about each other,
welcoming,
hospitable and hopeful, 

beyond the conspiracy theories,
endless rallies,

washed clean of hatred and
prejudices,
conspiracy theories,

party and personality adulation.

I might anticipate and imagine

the Church,

healed of this next wave of

sexual harassment,

abuse,

power manipulation and

concealment,

and so planted in the Gospel

that people come running

to be part of it.

I might anticipate and imagine

myself,

less dispirited,

less anxious

more patient, peaceful and 

accepting -

happier really.

Did you hear the news item this week - that for all we have in this country - for all our "freedoms" - we come in only at number 18 as the happiest people in the world? Slipping another 4 points since last year alone. There are 17 countries who reflect that they are happier than Americans. What's that about? And could this be true - that overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50?  

It's Iris transplanting time - a time of imagining and anticipation. We might allow it to inform our prayer.

And here's a Spring-blooming Iris called Good Morning Sunshine. Worth waiting for, no? Keeping hope alive.