Loving and merciful God, today we pray for that stillness that Pablo Neruda suggests in his poem, “Keeping Quiet”:
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness…
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their [siblings]
in the shade, doing nothing…
If we…for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the Earth can teach us—
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Gracious and merciful God, teach us how to be still.—AMEN.
