Always and Regardless

"Give me the grace, dear God, to adore You for even this I cannot do for myself. "  

This prayer, written by Flannery O'Connor, is from her prayer journal that she kept from January 1946 to September 1947 while she was a student at Iowa State.   The honesty and clarity of this prayer has  has stopped me in my tracks.  I have for some time thought that I should read some of her work again, and this journal seemed a good place to begin.  It is creating in me a longing to sit and talk with her. To talk about her writing, her faith, her illness, her concern that somehow she would lose her faith.  I am reminded of Mercedes, a nun who lives in a memory care home.  Last month when I was telling everyone good-bye, she took my hand and said, "You know, I am one of His wives."  I have been thinking of that statement, and of her deep gratitude that we come and celebrate Communion.  Of her willingness to not be just a beautiful bride, but a dedicated wife, a helpmate, always and regardless. 

   

Today, I think that I do not even know how to serve.  Yet, this morning I hear a quiet voice that says, "Of course you don't. Let me help you."  For me, and I think Flannery O'Connor would agree, that the role of art is to enliven our awareness  so that we see, or at least sense, that there is no presence but God.  Desecration is real and is happening all around, but it is not eternal. We cannot desecrate God.  So, we learn to serve, and we learn to pray.  It is all prayer.