July: Month Devoted to the Eucharist and Prayer
Intention of the month
TO BECOME MORE AWARE OF THE INCARNATIONAL GIFT OF CHRIST’S BODY AND BLOOD
“When you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled,
the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed…
that they cannot pay you back,
means that you are fortunate…”
Luke 14:12-14
The Face of Christ
The tragic beauty of the face of Christ shines in our faces.
The abandoned old live on in shabby rooms far from comfort.
Outside, din and purpose, the world a fiery animal
reined in by youth. Within, a pallid, tiring heart
shuffles about its dwelling.
Nothing, so little, comes of life’s promise!
What does one make of broken, despised minds,
A roadside show? A graveyard of the heart?
Christ, fowler of street and hedgerow –
of cripples, the distempered old, eyes blind as woodknots –
tongues tight as immigrants, all taken into his gospel net –
the hue and cry of existence.
Heaven of such imperfection? Wary, ravaged, wild?
Yes, compel them in!
Daniel Berrigan