Dear friends,
As we begin yet another year of ministry and service at the library and to our homeless friends at Hope Center Houston, I wish to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for each of you, and that God’s every blessing and favor be upon you and all whom you love.
And as a Franciscan friar, I would normally offer a Franciscan blessing or prayer along the lines of “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” but instead , I’m asking God to bless you—all of us—with a year of discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness. May we all be fools for Christ in 2021.
Happy New Year!
Brother Allen
A Franciscan Blessing
MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
especially homeless people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
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