This has been a longtime favourite poem-prayer of mine. I return to it now and then and remind myself of the mystery of prayer and our relationship to others and the world...how our Lord has a stubborn streak in always challenging us to discover and find him thru' people especially those who are 'least' likely to manifest our preconceived ideas and expectations about God. That God became man in Christ is one mystery that continues to bind, shock (and sometimes disable) generations time and time again. Faith in this mystery has tremendous implications in how we journey on- towards our relationships with others especially with non-christians (Matt 25: 31-46, Luke 10: 29-37, Matt 21: 33-46).
A genuine christian knows he does not have the final answer. Scholars of western philosophy, theologians
in particular (or even the feeble self-confidence that so-called mature christians like me would like to believe), always run the risk to domesticating God and reducing him to our size. It comes as little surprise why I encounter many people, even close friends who scoff at
over-enthusiastic believers who by no fault of their own, witness in an ineffectual and disaffective way...they encounter a hint of its message but rarely, in depth... the person who sustains it. We need to remind ourselves that divine revelation came in the form of a Person, not a book.
in particular (or even the feeble self-confidence that so-called mature christians like me would like to believe), always run the risk to domesticating God and reducing him to our size. It comes as little surprise why I encounter many people, even close friends who scoff at
Beyond all rhetoric, I imagine this prayer is something that Mother Teresa would pray as many missionaries would...and also by people of goodwill and faith.
May it help us to recognise truly, the presence of Christ in our lives.
E tu Iddio / You, God
You, God
Because of whom i walk in this boundless sky
among clouds of worlds
You are lonelier, poorer than I;
I have seen you wince under the surgeon's scalpel
removing an ucler from your bowels.
I have seen You dead drunk
staggering empty-eyed,
I have seen You
tense pushing a laden wheel-barrow,
jump for joy over new pockets
over shiny shoes
and call out to me, and stretch out Your hands
happy over a smile and a little kiss.
Those sparrow-like
eyes of yours
make me sad.
In order to live, I must be a brother
and a father to You.
And wipe your running nose
and support you in your faltering steps,
build you a stout house
of solid stone in fine plumb, and heal you
if your head limply resting on my knees
burns with fever,
and fetch you bread, soup
and honey and the fruit you like:
it is my way of adoring you.
-by Danilo Dolce (translated from italian by murray bodo)
Because of whom i walk in this boundless sky
among clouds of worlds
You are lonelier, poorer than I;
I have seen you wince under the surgeon's scalpel
removing an ucler from your bowels.
I have seen You dead drunk
staggering empty-eyed,
I have seen You
tense pushing a laden wheel-barrow,
jump for joy over new pockets
over shiny shoes
and call out to me, and stretch out Your hands
happy over a smile and a little kiss.
Those sparrow-like
eyes of yoursmake me sad.
In order to live, I must be a brother
and a father to You.
And wipe your running nose
and support you in your faltering steps,
build you a stout house
of solid stone in fine plumb, and heal you
if your head limply resting on my knees
burns with fever,
and fetch you bread, soup
and honey and the fruit you like:
it is my way of adoring you.
-by Danilo Dolce (translated from italian by murray bodo)
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