A Hard Week

It has been a hard week for me.
Most weeks I am better at creating space between the onslaught of the daily news and my daily round.
But this week was different.
The heartbreak pushed in close.
The anger at our political process felt in my clenched teeth.
The lying and posturing leaving my sense of decency in tatters.
And, then I was to offer a prayer at a meeting I was a part of when I had no words left for a prayer. So, I went searching for these words which I first read a number of years ago and are written down somewhere in a journal I kept at the time. 

Here they are.
A Franciscan Blessing.
For you.
And, for me.

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, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into 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.