Lectionary readings (Click the links to see the readings): Isaiah 43.16-21 | Psalm 126 | Philippians 3.3-14 | John 12.1-8

MERCY

Kyrie

Because we cannot be clever and honest
and are inventors of things more intricate
than the snowflake—Lord have mercy.

Because we are full of pride
in our humility and because we believe
in our disbelief—Lord have mercy.

Because we will protect ourselves
from ourselves to the point
of destroying ourselves—Lord have mercy.

And because on the slope to perfection,
when we should be half-way up,
we are half-way down—Lord have mercy.

Tidal

The waves run up the shore
and fall back. I run
up the approaches of God
and fall back. The breakers return
reaching a little further,
gnawing away at the main land.
They have done this thousands
of years, exposing little by little
the rock under the soil's face.
I must imitate them only
in my return to the assault,
not in their violence. Dashing
my prayers at him will achieve
little other than the exposure
of the rock under his surface.
My returns must be made
on my knees. Let despair be known
as my ebb-tide; but let prayer
have its springs, too, brimming,
disarming him; discovering somewhere
among his fissures deposits of mercy
where trust may take root and grow.

—R. S. Thomas. Mass for hard times. Highgreen: Bloodaxe: 1992.

"The waves run up the shore and fall back. I run up the approaches of God and fall back."