Disturb Us, Lord

Wednesday 24th March was the feast day of St. Oscar Romero.  Both Oscar Romero and Nano Nagle were people who allowed themselves to be disturbed by the suffering of humanity around them, by the injustices and ‘unjust actions’ perpetrated on behalf of those who should have been the ‘guardians of care and support’ for those kept poor. Disturb Us, Lord.

While continuing to pray for all of those working to find ‘Just Ways’ for all, let us also continue to seek inspiration from the lives of those we know who gave their lives precisely for this work.  Let us ask also ‘to be disturbed’ to act wherever we find our eyes opened to the suffering of our sisters and brothers, in this common home we share.  Nano Nagle, pray for us.

Disturb Us, Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

(attributed to Sir Francis Drake -1577)

To find out about St. Oscar Romero see St. Oscar Romero: 40th anniversary | Presentation Sisters Union North East Ireland (presentationsistersne.ie)

To get to know Nano Nagle (fonder of the Presentation Congregation) see Life lived on the ‘Razor’s Edge’ | Presentation Sisters Union North East Ireland (presentationsistersne.ie)