THE COMPANIONS

Every month Companions receive a small booklet in the mail, the Intercession Paper (IP).

Here is a selection of prayers from this month’s IP. If you’re so inclined, please join Companions in reaching out in love through prayer.

ON THE COVER

Las tiernas palabras de Jesús a su madre: “Mujer, ahí tienes a tu hijo,” son un último regalo de amor concedido a nuestra humanidad mientras, desde la cruz, Jesús mira el dolor infinito de su madre. Que esas palabras nos muevan a estar con María nuestra madre, y con madres, padres, hijos e hijas cuya pena es inconsolable en estos tiempos de pandemia sin precedentes.

Tu alma rota en mil pedazos

Tus ojos llevan los míos a los confines del dolor

Mis ojos compañeros silenciosos

En el asombro de tal belleza descarnada

El asombro de ver el alma inconsolable

Solo puedo estar presente. Solo puedo llorar.

Permanecer y en silencio, presenciar y soportar tu

pérdida.

Quiero apresurarme y juntar los pedazos de tu alma.

Quedarme y no apartarme de tu angustia y la mía.

Deseo desesperado de una liberación milagrosa.

Solo puedo estar presente. Solo puedo llorar.

Mantenerte a salvo y abrazarte

Seguir la luz de tus ojos

tu cabeza recostada en mis brazos

Mi esperanza morando en tu amor.

Ema Rosero-Nordalm, SCHC

Jesus’s tender words to his mother, “Woman, here is your son,” are a last gift of love granted to our humanity while, from the cross, Jesus looks into his mother’s infinite grief. May those words move us to be with Mary our mother, and with mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters whose sorrow is inconsolable in these unprecedented pandemic times.

Your soul broken into raw pieces

My eyes you take through the deep confines of pain

My eyes the silent companions

In awe of such stark beauty

The awe of seeing the inconsolable soul

I can only be present. I can only weep.

I can only be in silence to witness and bear your loss.

I want to rush and put the pieces of your soul together.

I want only to stay and be next to your anguish and mine,

In desperate wish for a miraculous release.

I can simply be present. I can only weep.

To hold you safe and to hold you tight

To follow the light of your eyes

Your head resting in my arms

My hope dwelling in your love.

Ema Rosero-Nordalm, SCHC

THANKSGIVING: SUNDAY AND EVERY DAY

All are created from dirt, all become broken.

All fail to follow perfectly,

stumbling over our own desires and fear.

Yet all are marvelous, each one.

All are forgiven, each one.

All recipients of grace, each one.

United by unconditional, unmerited love.

Alleluia.

Margaret Young, SCHC

 

MISSION IN GOD’S WORLD: MONDAY

God is love and whoever lives in love lives in union with God, and God lives in union with them.

(1 John 4:16)

Lord, if I live in union with you and you with me, will I grow and be closer to you and as part of your mission, your work in the world? Help me if this is the way you want me to go; in your name I pray.

Judy Moore, SCHC

UNITY OF GOD’S PEOPLE: TUESDAY

Art is universal in human cultures. We can learn by allowing ourselves to experience art from people who are very different from us. Even in our own country, the diversity of artists brings joy and newness to us: Gee’s Bend quilters, painters, dancers, actors, musicians, and so many others. Let us pray that they help us break down barriers and that they can survive through the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to enlighten our lives.

Louise Forrest, SCHC

SOCIAL JUSTICE: WEDNESDAY

In a sermon preached in 1957 Dr. King said, “We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love, and when we discover it, we will be able to make this old world a new world. For love is the only way.”

We need a revival in this country.

We need a revival of fundamental human

relationships, of the ideals and values

we already share.

We need a revival of our relationship with the God

who made us all.

We need a revival of love.

If we discover the libretto of love we can make of this old world a new one, this old country a new one.

Go out this day and love somebody you don’t like.

The Most Rev. Michael Curry

from a sermon, The King Center, 17 January 2022

PEACE & RECONCILIATION: THURSDAY

Thank you, God, for reminding me that each day gives me new opportunity to be and to do.

Thank you for entrusting me with a new slate with which to start over and learn new ways to listen, talk, dance, write, hold, and be present.

Thank you for reminding me of our shared humanity; that you experienced jealousy, small-mindedness, racism, friendship, love, loyalty, distrust, empathy, and misunderstanding.

May I find beauty in small places, in large spaces, on leafless trees, lopsided birdhouses, in myself and in the other.

May gratitude and kindness open my being each morning as I greet you, and may I welcome your call to get up and figure out how to go forward in love.

Denise B. Crenshaw, SCHC

GROWTH IN SPIRITUAL LIFE: FRIDAY

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, open our hearts and minds to receive the wisdom, love, and care you shower upon us daily, so that we can become the people you have created us to be.

Pat Trumbull, SCHC

PRAYERS PERSONAL AND GENERAL: SATURDAY

Let us pay heed to the Indigenous wisdom of this country and pray for All Our Relatives—that is, the people plus the furred, feathered, finned, and scaly; the petaled, leaved, coned, and mossy; the splashing, running, sparkling, drippy; the windy, billowy, starry, flaming; the sharp, hard, crumbly, and ancient. Let us pray for the unity of all God’s creation, the heart to perceive it, and the wisdom to live it—for the future of our fragile island home.

Marilyn Orozco, SCHC