Psalms for Praying
Awaken, O Love! O You who created me,
return to my side; forget me not in my weakness.
Why do I turn my back to You,
and say in my heart, "You will not take notice of me?"
O my Beloved, You hear my deepest desires;
You will strengthen my heart,
You will answer my prayer,
That I might live with integrity
And become a loving presence in the world!
I very much appreciate a prayer asking for integrity. In his Encyclical, Pope Francis calls for sobriety - that is, a life that turns away from reckless waste; a life that treats our resources as the sacred gifts they are, and following the teachings of Jesus, he does so with an eye and heart aimed towards the poor. If he were Buddhist, he would probably call for mindfulness and compassion. In these psalms, Nan C. Merrill calls out to Love.
We Christians must set aside any notion that our faith journey is one just for the sake of our personal salvation. We are in this together. That is more of a gift than we realize.
63. Given the complexity of the ecological crisis and its multiple causes, we need to realize that the solutions will not emerge from just one way of interpreting and transforming reality. Respect must also be shown for the various cultural riches of different peoples, their art and poetry, their interior life and spirituality. If we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes religion and the language particular to it. - Pope Francis
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