We gather in God’s presence and in the presence of one another. And in the words of Irish poet, Pádraig Ó Tuama, “we greet God, and we greet the God who is more God than the God we greet.”
And as we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick these days, we pray for his intercession to help us be people of hope as we navigate the challenges of our day. May we find consolation in this traditional Irish prayer, loosely translated from the Gaelic, Ag Críost an Síol:
God of all mystery,
Yours is the seed,
Yours is the harvest:
Gather us one day into Your granary.
God, as vast as the ocean,
Yours are the waves,
Yours are the fishes:
Gather us up into Your entwining nets.
From birth to age,
and from age to death:
Cradle us in Your great and loving arms.
From death to the end,
not end, but new life:
In Your presence may we reside—eternally.—AMEN.
(In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World by Pádraig Ó Tuama and “Ag Críost an Síol”)