In a profoundly troubled world, we can pray.

This is an image of Our Lady of Good Remedy. The title comes to us from the 12th century when the Trinitarian Fathers needed money to ransom Christians from slavery. A remedy for that problem was swiftly and generously forthcoming. This is wonderful, and I have my own stories to tell of Mary's remedies over the years and in the work of the retreat house here.

But I would suggest that remedy here means so much more than Mary as fund-raiser, however good the cause, as the most needed remedy today is the remedy-ing of human hearts. Someone wrote with appreciation for the Thursday intercessions found here, as they help him/her to pray beyond the little and most immediate concerns of everyday. Now, Saint Paul writes::

The Lord is near; have no anxiety, but in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding, will keep guard over your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. (Philipians 4:6,7)

But the verse says to make needs known in everything. And if we have global hearts, and open, aware, informed minds, then we will want to entrust so much more to the Mother called Remedy. 

A priest told me once that intercession is the lowest form of prayer. I was only a seminarian then and didn't now how to respond ~ but I don't believe that. The synagogue official in last Sunday's Gospel said, "Jesus, my daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live." He was interceding for his daughter, and Jesus responded at once and with great generosity. 

Here are some prayer-verses of my own. But each of us will think and feel beyond the prayer when it seems to end. 

For deniers and deceivers
For the lazy and indifferent
For the hopeless and embittered
A remedy, O Lady!

For racists and anti-semites
For resenters and bullies
For the militarized and dangerous
A remedy, O Lady!

For the priesthood and the candidates
For prisoners and killers
For haters and the hated
A remedy, O Lady!

For the dealers and death-purveyors
For terrorists and the obstruct-ors of good
For dividers and exploiters
A remedy, O Lady!

For the un-evolved and wounded
For planet-looters and the greedy
For the baby considered a problem
A remedy, O Lady!

For the addict and the fear-ridden
For the self-righteous and the soul-sick
For the fearful and the unhappy
A remedy, O Lady!

For beheaders and suicide bombers
For the master-minds and the broken-hearted
For the wanderers and the war-torn
A remedy, O Lady!

For the mourners and the dis-placed
For the children and the left behind
For wall-builders and false promise-rs
A remedy, O Lady!

For hearts that look the other way
For excuse-rs and rationalize-rs
For the person on the planet who most needs this prayer right now
A remedy, O Lady!

Hemerocallis fulva is blooming ~ and talking to us!

Hemerocallis fulva - commonly called Orange Daylily or Ditch Lily is blooming now. And while each flower lasts only one day, the blooms are staggered over a period of two to three weeks, which makes for a lovely summer presence. 

News to me: this rather invasive plant (we all have our detractors) is enjoyed seemingly everywhere. On a Ditch Lily website people have chimed in to share their  Ditch Lily experiences from almost all of the fifty states. Some folks have shared observations about Ditch Lilies from The United Kingdom, Canada and China!

Once planted, if even carelessly, daylilies will spread by underground roots. And since they don't propagate by seeds, if you see them growing somewhere, know that someone (even a long time ago) planted them there. More often than not, zooming by,  we notice them as a large or long patch of bright roadside orange. Many people have no idea what the one-day flowers look like close up. 

But for all the ordinary, there's a lot of message in the daylily: Much of life is loss, so let's pay attention. Remember Joni Mitchell's 1970's song: They Paved Paradise. "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone..."

Sometimes the loss starts before we even get started. As a brand-new priest I walked in the door of my first-assignment-rectory and the pastor was standing there, who clearly was alcoholic. That night at dinner I realized he was a nasty, broken, bruising alcoholic. Talk about the loss of an ideal. A joy stealer. A dream smasher. A month later the church was broken into and my antique, sterling silver ordination chalice was stolen. The detective said the next morning: "Don't bother, it's already melted down." 

Jesus understood how loss-permeating life is: his security was taken away as an infant and his family had to flee to Egypt for safety, he was separated from Mary and Joseph for three days at age twelve, he taught about God through parables of loss: lost boy, lost coin, lost sheep (Luke 15).

We can lose: a pregnancy, a parent or child, a friend, a job or income, our faith, our self-confidence, our sense of meaning or purpose, our life-direction. We can lose our way even with a GPS. We can lose our keys, the remote, our wallet, our glasses, the book we were reading, the password, we can lose love in a marriage. We lose patience. Sometimes we say in exasperation: I'm losing my mind.

Loss can cause us to become depressed, anxious, frustrated, cursing-angry, cynical, or conversely, persevering, enduring, grateful, hopeful. We all make our choices. 

The bright Orange Daylily summons: pay attention in the losses.

Pay attention to how I respond. 
Pay attention to what might be learned.
Pay attention to gratitude. 
Pay attention to how I might change or evolve. 
Pay attention to how I might serve in love. 
Pay attention to what needs to be healed within.
Pay attention to how close God is.

In color symbology/psychology, the color orange signifies emotional strength in difficult times. Orange assists people in grief recovery. It is the color of optimism, rejuvenation and spirit. As it is the color of a golden fruit it is celestial, symbolizing perfection and eternity. Didn't the nation get a big dose of lived-orange this past week?

Nine members of the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina were murdered by a racist gunman at a Wednesday night bible study. Among them, an elder parish matriarch, the parish pastor, a young man just graduated form college, a town librarian, a track coach and a woman who had just started her retirement - all killed. Out of their loss, relatives publicly spoke words of forgiveness to the young man who had murdered their loved ones and assaulted their community. The following Wednesday, the bible study group, usually no more than twenty people, gathered in the same room where the murders had taken place. But now over a hundred people gathered, too many for the room where the prayer normally takes place. 

In their brightness orange daylilies call us to attentiveness. In their short, seems-like-loss, sunrise to sunset existence they invite us to discover what matters: gratitude, hope, care, the heavenly, delight, healing and each other. 

I sure hope you see some Orange Daylilies soon!

Intercessions ~ Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The deep wound of racism still festers in our country./ With Saint Francis we pray:/ Where there is hatred, let me sow love./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday is the Feast of the First Martyrs of the Early Roman Church./ We pray for Christians who are struggling and suffering today in many countries around the world./ We pray to the Lord.

In the Heart of Jesus we see the Heart of God./ As June draws to a close/ we pray for Christ-hearts that are open and inclusive signs of Christ's salvation for all./ We pray to the Lord.

Mindful of the parishioners at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston/  who held their bible class in the same room where a week prior nine of their fellows were killed,/ we ask to be made steady and persevering./ We pray to the Lord.

For those who daily struggle with special needs,/ war injuries,/ chronic sickness,/ fatigue,/ emotional instability and anxieties./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for our families everywhere:/ for displaced persons and those who are traumatized by hazards and troubles./ We pray to the Lord.

For those who are asleep in death to arise,/ like the little girl in today's gospel,/ asking for them to see first/ the bright and joyful face of Jesus./ We pray to the Lord.