“We shall write our lives in the book of Life”
Plus a new/old prayer for this season: Thy gifts, which we are about to receive
Welcome back to our Wednesday round-up of others’ holy labors. Books, essays, poetry, prayers, podcasts, art, music—anything I’m loving lately.
Let me know what you enjoy from this gathering of good work. I hope you might share with a friend, too. Always free, thanks to the paid subscribers who make this work possible.
Need a super easy prayer practice to start the school year? Take one simple line from grace-before-meals and carry it with you all day: The most important prayer you already know. (Side note: I’m delighted to have my OSV News column carried by The Irish Catholic!)
Moving artwork from Michael Cook showing “nameless, marginal, or fleeting characters from the four gospels”: Twelve Mysteries. H/t to Art & Theology for bringing this before my eyes.
My dear friend
has a brand-new book out this week, and it’s already moved me to tears and introduced me to a new saint friend: The Mystics Would Like A Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today.Ran into unexpected nastiness online & wrote about it for (in)courage. This piece resonated with readers big time, as many of us are struggling to navigate social media’s choppy waters in an intense season: When It’s Hard to Be on the Internet.
A fitting prayer for any day, but especially today’s somber anniversary: The Prayer of Mothers for Life and Peace by Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum and Sheikha Ibtisam Mahameed (a beautiful shareable version here with Hebrew and Arabic):
“God of Life
Who heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds
May it be your will to hear the prayer of mothers
For you did not create us to kill each other…”
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I love your reflection on the meal blessing-we forget that rote/traditional prayers are rote/traditional for a reason-there is depth and richness to them when we pay attention. The artwork was very interesting, not my cup of tea necessarily but I love the idea behind the series. And your friends book sounds really neat-adding to my to read!