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Announcing articles of Lenten exercises

A gathering prayer in anticipation of the release of prisoners from Guantanamo, inspired too by

Mansoor Adafi, Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo. New York: Hachette, forthcoming August 2021. 

Let us act now, in part, joining in the SPIRIT.

If once or ever in need of company on a journey

If at your heart drawn chords of love, 

it seems no one is tugging, 


The guides--be they a child, or Mansoor Adafi,

 are many.

Be they the idle though, should-ing thought,

The sugar-plum fairies dancing in your head or

A man gotten his growth spurt between forced feedings in Guantanamo--

Few, the scenes of true reconciliation.

We come weary, beleagured, closed and hurt, avoiding "forced-feeding" 

choked up it has spread throughout the land. 


What is the gratitude of Lent, we might ask as we open ourselves.

Who is kindness itself. Since we aim into the heart of God in each prayer, support our ambition, reaching from the chair to take with gentleness, and grace, needed charge. O God, you who entice us into the path, let us 

unknow the lost way.


Lead us to know the land of milk and honey--the conviction of your nearness and 

Let us pray in the confidence you guard us from temptation. You provide everyone who keeps on knocking at your door, you do not send away empty the hungry or the naked. You yourself were that suffering servant and you looked in forgiveness even from the cross. 


Let us speak of guides.

You may have in front of you this Lent a familiar name, or a new guide. Here are a few examples:



Devotionals

Cheri L. Mills, Lent of Liberation: Confronting the Legacy of American Slavery. Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2021.

40 devotionals written dedicated so the martyrdom of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd not be in vain, so that justice may come to the American Descendants of Slavery.

Justin McRoberts & Scott Erickson, Prayer: Forty Days of Practice. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook, 2019.

A balance to word and image in the text supporting and aiding both contemplation and meditation.

Joan Chittister, 40-Day Journey with Joan Chittister. edited by Beverly Lanzetta. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Books, 2007.

Henri J.M. Nouwen. Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen: Daily Scripture and Prayers Together With Nouwen's Own Words. Compiled by Judy Bauer. Liguori, MI: Liguori, 2005.

Ignatius of Loyola. Lent and Easter Wisdom from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Daily Scripture and Prayers Together With Saint Ignatius' Own Words. Compiled by James L. Connor, SJ. Liguori, MI: Liguori, 2009.





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