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 to turn their pain in to joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
(Franciscan Benediction)
I have found wisdom and irony in this benediction by the Franciscan monks. I find I can muster up "discomfort", "anger", "tears" and even some "foolishness" (yes, hard to believe, I know!) but it is a lot more challenging to "live deep within my heart", "work for justice, freedom and peace", "comfort and turn pain into joy"and "do what others claim cannot be done". How often do we continue to conduct shallow conversations when really longing for a deeper connection? How often do we rail against an injustice but fail to act? How often do we "switch off" when faced with pain or suffering? How often do we allow ourselves to believe that one person cannot possibly make that much difference?
May God bless us - not just with passion but with the ability to make a difference.
