Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas - You'll want to pray this prayer

 

Here is a different painting of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). He wears the black and white Dominican habit, holding one of his great volumes in his left hand and feather-quill in his right. I like the painting because Thomas was said to be obese which isn't featured here and instead of looking up at putti angels peeking out of golden clouds, he looks out at us. I find that to be quite refreshing — the artist acknowledging that Thomas wrote about God, but for us. The bottom of the painting is either incomplete or  damaged. Maybe in this painting Thomas has been awake all night and has just completed this prayer which many of us will appreciate and seek to make our own.

Grant me, O Lord my God

a mind to know  you,

a heart to seek you,

wisdom to find you,

conduct pleasing to you,

faithful  perseverance in waiting for you,

and hope of finally embracing you.

Of course, there is our embrace of God, but only as a response to God's own first embrace, even kiss, which has embraced us long before we even had a thought of God. Aquinas wouldn't mind my adding that thought.

Manet's Last Flowers as Forgiveness Gift

 

Beginning in the winter of 1880, at age 49,  due to declining health, Edouard Manet found it increasingly difficult to work on larger paintings. How creative, instead of packing up his brushes and calling it quits, he put his waning energies into sixteen small paintings of flowers in humble containers. 

The painting we see here (1882) is of a purple clematis with leaves and a single spray of pink dianthus (sometimes called pinks). They have been placed in a crystal vase, with a delicate painted decoration, filled with clean water.

A bouquet can be an extravagant affair, "Nothing succeeds like excess," the Dowager Countess says in Downton Abbey. But here, the arrangement of flowers is simple in the extreme. Indeed, Manet's arrangement of flowers is perfect simplicity, inviting us contemplate these few flowers in silence. 

Here's a little meditation we might practice. We meditate when we lock or fix our minds. But the locking needn't be on an overtly religious image. May we use our imagination? Some say, no, because our imaginations can go off unreliably. Before we know it we're fixed on superficiality, foolishness, resentment or even lust. I'd say rather, cultivate your best imagination.

Here! Imagine picking up the little vase of flowers, then mindfully walking off to make a gift to anyone I know who needs forgiveness. Forgiveness is central to Jesus's teaching. Forgiveness breaks the cycle of violence. His last words from the cross are, "Father forgive." John 20:23. Forgiveness means, "I wish you well." "I wish you all you need for salvation." I visualize handing off the gift of Manet's flowers with these words:

I hand off the flower-gift to someone who has hurt me — I wish you well.

I hand off the flower gift to someone who has failed me — even parents or teachers.

I hand off the flower gift to anyone who has abused me — spouse, clergy, sibling, employer.

I offer the flower-gift to someone whose conscience is unevolved — 

  who doesn't know right from wrong or who thinks, "What's the big deal."

   

I offer the flower-gift to anyone whose behavior

  makes me crazy or

  depresses me.

I offer the flower-gift to anyone I find repulsive —

  those of whom I think the most negative thoughts.

I offer the flower-gift to anyone who needs forgiveness who is deceased.

I offer the flower-gift to someone who caused me suffering —

  who frightened me, 

  lied to me,

  betrayed me, 

  tricked or exploited me,

  who harmed my good name,

  stole from me.

I offer the flower-gift to those who have caused me pain,

  but who carried their own deep wound.

I offer the flower-gift to anyone who has disappointed me —

  perhaps even my own children,

  a friend,

  a relative,

  a trouble maker, 

  an addict.

But don't force this visualization. It might not be time — perhaps in the future. Maybe the best I'm able to imagine is, "I would like to be able to offer this flower-gift and wish for wellness. Perhaps some day." 

Finally, I may want to keep the flowers for myself — a token of forgiveness for my own wrong-headed self, especially the mistakes from long ago that still trouble me. 

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scarlet Oak

The American author, Henry David Thoreau calls the October leaf-change a ripening./ May we hope for our own personal ripening,/ the ripening of insight,/ wisdom,/ intelligence,/ the ripening by which we individually and collectively become full human persons./ We pray to the Lord.

At the start of October,/ we pray for those who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance,/ asking for good  health,/ safety and peace in difficult times./ We pray to the Lord.

This week at Assisi,/ Pope Francis promulgated an encyclical on friendship./ Jesus calls us friends,/ not diminished servants./ The pope writes as another 200 migrants recently drowned in the Mediterranean Sea/ hoping for a place of acceptance,/ safety and friendship./ As disciples of Christ,/ may we be true learners./ We pray to the Lord.

More than a million people have died worldwide from the Coronavirus,/ while 27 states report increases in the number of cases./ We pray for the sick and their loved ones,/ for the protection and safety of those who staff hospitals./ May we be wise and generous in our taking care of the health of others./ We pray to the Lord.

California continues to burn./ Thousands of people have been evacuated./ The losses are profound as some fires are consuming an acre of forest every five seconds./ We pray for the firefighters and all who are suffering./ We pray to the Lord.

We entrust our country and its Election Day to God's care,/ asking to be protected from threats,/ violence,/ bitter contest,/ suspicion and fear./ For healing and the restoration of unity./ We pray to the Lord.

The nation is being overtaken by a dark and destructive energy./ We pray for Christ's bright dawning to come./ We pray to the Lord.