Even my shadow shall shimmer: a modern monk’s prayer translated–
(“Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”)
Make even my shadows fruitful in light, like Peter’s and Paul’s.
Make us tight. Contour us in Your LIght-to where, we cast shadows, together!
In collaboration, we are, the might of Your casting visions…
the force and nuance of Your sight.
(You’re tender palms gather us as sparks, as we are, and share us where You will-
wherever you choose to fleck our beings! You cause us to specifically shine, as a song of flight to another world and time!)
And, make even my handkerchiefs useful to You-
lien me out-to the bearable light-make me new, despite the fallings!
Fling me, where you will-and,
the colored handkerchief of my being-flutter it, where You wish.
Call, the gesture of who I am in You, to that particular spot of wistful landing-
that resonate receptive space
in which i was meant to be grounded, and call home, that lace of being
lay it where You wish! Or let it billow in winds unseen-prayer songs of being.
Or, like the bones of Elisha still bringing
healing long after death, cause my marrow to be tomorrow!
And cause, the afterglow to tumble into more life.
So make me to overflow from the essence, without the strife, of trying to become..
or over-glow, in self excited expectation; instead, let me surrender into
true Glow of the inner mechanics of Your incarnation.
You’ve formed within me-not based on my own performance-
the geometry of my own calculations, but rather
the glory, coming off Your pleasure in coming into who i am.
So let me be satisfied with that specific shine, that particularly contoured constellation.
Now, make what I touch and what touches me
instantly Graced with Your tangible electrically calming Presence, in practical ways seen and unseen!
And if this is too much to ask,
make me alone, a dwelling for Your Own private pleasures unseen—a
house for your personal enjoyments-a cup of hot tea in the midst of war;
a bubble bath on the battlefield!
The rest of what I am
is meaningless, apart from You; so i say yes
to eating dinner, making home together, becoming new, co-shimmering-regardless of me; so then again, make me
even more me, by Your being You, within. Or else,
take me only to where You are; so we can live
uninterruptedly together in the endless shimmer of morning star,
of Your Own horizoned expectations of us. The resonance and symbol of Yourself
is my residence, forever.
To be a disco ball-inside and out-despite myself, in this multifaceted bout,
this combat of shimmer to become…
reflecting, in the end, some Other, endless Glorious, One.
Amen.
