Reservoir: A Prayer of Grief and Hope

Reservoir

River of pain

Dammed up, contained, stored

What can I do about this reservoir?

Nothing 

And yet, that is where you meet me

You say, “I forgive you.”

And offer healing

I see you have already started

Irrigating desserts brings the water levels down

So much life you give with your love

You give redemption

And I know your embrace

With me always

So I will say yes

And receive the fullness

Of all you are giving to me

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Your Gaze

This prayer/poem is inspired by the Ignatian practice of beginning each prayer time by receiving God’s loving gaze. For God is always looking upon you with a gaze of love. -Ignatius of Loyola

Your Gaze

Lord, you look upon me with a gaze of love

Consistent, unwavering

Constantly new

Whether I return the look or hide my face

Awake or asleep

Aware or unaware

Anywhere and everywhere

You invite me to meet your gaze

Look into your eyes

So you can fill my heart with love

Till it becomes too much for me

And I turn my eyes away 

But you patiently wait till I glance your way again

So you can offer me just a little bit more

Your loving gaze takes many forms

Sometimes I sense your joy

Other times I’m struck by your delight

Or catch you showing favor

And notice when you revel

So each day I will open my eyes

Let your smile shine upon me

Warmed by your love

Surrounded with your care

Upheld with your compassion

Drawn deep into the heart of your love

The Eyes Of Love -Anne-Marie Forest 2014

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

To The Table: A Prayer/Poem

To The Table

Jesus, you eagerly long 

To spend this time

With your friends.

To eat this meal, wash these feet

Share body, blood, communing

No matter the coming betrayal

Or denial, or scattering

Your longing is for your friends

The ones that you choose

Frail, broken, but fully beloved

They all go to the table

But I hang back

I’m not sure I am welcomed

One such as me, come so late

Joining this moment through feeble imagination

But you turn to me with that welcoming smile

“Come sit beside me. 

I’ve eagerly longed for this too

Here, eat this bread

Drink this cup

Here, with me 

and in the coming sorrow

I join you to me by this.”

“Lay your head upon my chest

With me, all is well

The dark night comes

But till then

Be together 

Stay close and laugh with me

There is so much more of my love to share

You are welcome

Always welcome

Here 

With me”

The Last Supper by John August Swanson

© Dale Gish 2021. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

An Ignatian Prayer For Freedom

A Prayer For Freedom

God of all goodness

You created me for freedom

An abundant life, united with you

Filled with your love

Overflowed by joy

Truly myself in you

And yet there is so much that is broken

Bound up, even resistant towards you

I find myself enslaved by sin

Filled with false illusions

Tempted at every turn

Distracted, disconnected, despairing

But that is where you come to find me

Just as you came to so many

Offering freedom

You called Lazarus from the tomb

Healed the woman with a hemorrhage

Gave sight to blind Bartimaeus

Brought the demoniac back to sanity

Restored Mary Magdalene to wholeness

Free me from my bondage just as you freed them

Expand my terrain of freedom

Remove anything that stands in the way

Never let anything separate me from you, my Lord

I choose freedom

I choose you

This day and every day

For this is the deep desire you have implanted within me

Amen

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

An Ignatian Easter Prayer by Joseph Tetlow

I’m excited to be leading two groups of people through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola this year and we have just started praying the theme of the resurrection. I find myself inspired by Joseph Tetlow, a Jesuit master of the Exercises. He has written some great prayer-poems, and in this Easter season, I offer you this one.

Free Indeed

You did a marvel, Lord Jesus Christ,
and make me feel beside myself in surprise.

My spirit glistens with Your rising.

I smile and smile with You,
I am drowning in the laughter of Your friends.

You have won, Lord, we know You have won!

You have defeated all the worst that we could do,

each alone and all together.

You crushed the power of darkness and of death

to walk peacefully again in our flesh,

now and forever.

Come to me, great Lord of life,

as You come to all your friends.

Send me to console those around me who hurt.

Come, and send Your friends into this daily world

to labor full of hope for the Reign of God.

-Joseph Tetlow -Choosing Christ In The World (A guide to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.)

If you are interested in praying the Ignatian Exercises with me starting in September, please contact me. You can also read more here.

Resurrection of Jesus Icon

You Loved Them To The End

You Loved Them To The End

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Jesus, the priests, elders, teachers, leaders of your people 

Stand to condemn you with mouths filled with lies

How do you respond? 

You say nothing but your heart radiates love

For your chosen people, who call you enemy

If only they would turn, and still some may

Then you would gather them to you

To the end, your heart aches with love for them

And then bound before Pilate

Bloodthirsty, heathen, manipulative self-interest

But child of God still the same. 

If only he would receive your living water

Your bread of life, the light you shine

But this is just another political calculation

Doing whatever to keep this bloody peace

And to the end, with love, your soul mourns his hard-heartedness

Now the crowds, chanting against you, whipped to a frenzy

You see and know each one

Timaeus, Alpheus, Sharon, Joses, Efraim

Jonath, Mara, Michah, Imma, Eli

Each created as a gift, a vessel for your love, Treasured

But they shout for your blood and choose a criminal for freedom

How your heart breaks to see them captive and ensnared in hatred

And yet you love them to the end

And the soldiers taking advantage of your helplessness

Mocking, striking, spitting, taunting

Outdoing one another with cruelty

So far from what they were created to be

To show kindness, to bless and build up

As the blows rain down upon you, you cry out in your spirit with each impact

I, Love, You, Beloved, Child, Not, Forgotten, Forgive, Them

You send out blessings as they beat you

Even the soldiers you love to the end

Now they nail you to the cross, and your blood flows freely

Crying out your love to all those gathered jeering

If only they could see the compassion in your eyes

Your deep desire for reconciliation

For thieves to join you in paradise

For an end to the mourning and suffering and death

You love them to the end and so, every fiber of your being cries out

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do” 

Even in your despair, you hold onto love

For each of these your children, gone so far astray

Jesus, we know your enemy love by this

That while we were still sinners

you loved us in your passion

You loved us to the end

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

This prayer was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

A Coronavirus Prayer

A Coronavirus Prayer

-Written while praying for Ellen who is hospitalized in New York City with COVID-19, and reflecting on John 11

Looking at the world through eyes of compassion

Heart open wide to embrace what is broken

Seeing the beauty, tragedy, hope

Your beloved one is sick

Eyes welling up with tears

streaming down

growing puffy and red

How many days with the fever?

Chest tight, dry cough, struggle to breathe?

Weak, oxygen low

It’s time to admit

To the hospital

To the fear

To the loneliness

To the helplessness

To the desperate need for you

Yes, you wept

Wept with your friends

“See how you love her”

“See how you love him”

Every time I hear the word ventilator 

I will weep with you

Weary from sorrow

Heart strained by love

This will be my prayer

Sharing your heart

Tender compassion

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

This prayer was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

Rogier van der Weyden -Descent From The Cross

Forgiven

Lord, I come to you in need of mercy

Your forgiveness

My sin is heavy upon me

A weight I cannot bear

But you see through my sin

and look at me with great compassion and love

And now you speak words of forgiveness to me

Words that release me, unbind me

My heart leaps for joy

Miraculous mercy

Gratuitous grace

Fantastic freedom

I want to forgive everyone

Blessing springs up everywhere

You overwhelm me with your love

There is nothing I can say or do except to love you.

© Dale Gish 2020. All Rights Reserved.

This prayer was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.

With Great Delight, Holy Spirit

With Great Delight

Before I say come, you are already there

But you welcome my invitation

With great anticipation, you flow into me

Into your dwelling place, wonderfully made

The home you designed when you knit me together

When you formed me in my mother’s womb

With great delight, you race through my body

Muscle by muscle, cell by cell

Flutter through heart, sparkle eyes

Captivate  ears, filling to fullness

Dancing pinwheels of delight in my soul

Holy fire, igniting love

Blazing embers, dancing flames

Holding  hardened places close with gentle comfort

Flow living water, becoming desert streams

Hope springing up, fresh new shoots, rising in my soul

Holy Spirit you find such delight

rejoicing, celebrating, leaping for joy within me

Yes, Spirit

I will join you in this celebration

© Dale Gish 2019. All Rights Reserved.

You Could Pray Like This All Night

Emptied by the crowds, you dismissed them

choosing the twisting path up the mountainside

To be alone at last

to turn your face towards home

The Father came running

As if you were a prodigal

But the Spirit was faster

Igniting your heart

And coursing through your veins

Such rejoicing, delight, re-union

Not that there was ever any distance

Just subtle moments of presence amid human existence

But now, face to face, spirit to Spirit

Love like fountains intermingling

You could pray like this all night

And you did.

Grace upon grace

Joy upon joy

Kingdom breaking in

Just a taste of the fullness to come

When the three of you redeem

and fill everything to overflowing

But now as day breaks

There are boat battered disciples to tend

And a world to embrace

-A poem written in prayer with Matt 14:22-33

© Dale Gish 2019. All Rights Reserved.

This prayer was inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. If you are interested in praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with me starting in September, please contact me.