I thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
*
From delusion lead me to Truth.
From darkness lead me to Light.
From death lead me to Immortality.
*
Christ, as a light illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield o'ershadow and cover me.
Christ, be over me. Christ, be under me.
Christ, be beside me on left hand and right.
Christ, be before me, behind me, about me.
Christ, this day be within and without me.
Christ, the lowly and the weak,
Christ, the all-powerful!
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak,
in the mouth of each who speaks to me,
in all who draw near me,
or see me, or hear me.
*
These prayers, which I've memorized from much use, serve me well when my morning fog lifts, usually as I'm sipping my second cup of coffee. They're not part of a routine: they're more a spontaneous outburst that occurs the first time I look through my window and see the great tree just outside and the Jemez Mountains (snowcapped today) in the distance.+ The short poem is from e. e. cummings. It may take faith to speak of "the leaping greenly spirit of trees" when all is beset by winter, but hey, my big tree is an evergreen, with needles all over, and the sap, unseen, still works its mysteries. (Hopkins: "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.")
+ The triple invocation -- Juan Mascaro' calls it "the great prayer of the Upanishads" -- for all its brevity, asks for everything we need:
Truth
Light
Immortality
+ Last come a few lines from the Breastplate of Saint Patrick, translated from Old Irish (full text here). To me it speaks of a man who wishes to be (and wishes the world to be) immersed in Christ.
