Category: Daily Prayer

FOUR IN THE MORNING by Wislawa Szymborska The hour from night to day. The hour from side to side. The hour for those past thirty. The hour swept clean to the crowing of cocks. The hour when earth betrays us. The hour when wind blows from extinguished stars. The hour of and-what-if-nothing-remains-after-us. The hollow hour. Blank,...

Good morning Cornerstone friends. I hope you find this morning refreshed from sleep and ready for the day. When you join in these thoughts and prayers I shall be miles away in Sussex near where I grew up, to visit my brother and family and places of my childhood near the South Downs, but close enough...

The Spiritual Canticle By  John of the Cross O soul, most beautiful among all creatures, you who so long to know the place where your Beloved is, so as to seek him and become one with him, now it has been stated: you yourself are the home in which he dwells. Here is a reason to be...

The Ascent of Mount Carmel [Dark Night of the Soul] By  John of the Cross On a dark night, Inflamed by love-longing— O exquisite risk!— Undetected I slipped away. My house, at last, grown still. Secure in the darkness, I climbed the secret ladder in disguise— O exquisite risk!— Concealed by the darkness. My house, at last,...

SNOWDROPS by Louise Glück Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know what despair is; then winter should have meaning for you. I did not expect to survive, earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect to waken again, to feel in damp earth my body able to respond again, remembering after so long how...

ORANGES by Mary Oliver Cut one, the lace of acid rushes out, spills over your hands. You lick them, manners don’t come into it. Orange. The first word you have heard that day enters your mind. Everybody then does what he or she wants; breakfast is casual. Slices, quarters, halves, or the whole hand holding an...

Good evening, everyone. We are coming to the end of Christian Aid Week. My involvement with this charity has varied considerably over the years. For many years, I delivered envelopes and collected ‘house to house’. In more recent times, I have continued to support them, reading the news bulletin which they send me on a regular...

Good morning Cornerstone Friends as we reach the mid-point of May. Like the trees moving into the full green of their summer clothing, our lives are moving into more sociability – another small step towards full communion. Let’s welcome the day and its opportunities! Refreshing Spirit of God, we welcome this day of fresh opportunity and...

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles Jesus Taken up into Heaven 1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he...

Never Give up Your Loyalty Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2: 15 NIV® The Christian faith has always been passed from neighbour to neighbour from generation to generation, and from culture...

HOW IT IS by Maxine Kumin Shall I say how it is in your clothes? A month after your death I wear your blue jacket. The dog at the center of my life recognizes you’ve come to visit, he’s ecstatic. In the left pocket, a hole. In the right, a parking ticket delivered up last August...

Good morning on this green refreshing world, good Cornerstone friends. Alleluia. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights. Praise him all his angels; praise him all his host. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the world; Young men and women, old and young together; let them...

1964 by Jorge Luis Borges II. I will no longer be happy. Maybe it doesn’t matter. there are many other things in the world; any moment is more profound and diverse than the sea. Life is short and though hours are very long, a dark delight lies in wait for us Death, that other sea, the...

1964 by Jorge Luis Borges I. The world has lost its magic. They have left you. You no longer share the clear moon nor the slow gardens. Now there is no moon that isn’t a mirror to the past, Solitary crystal, anguished sun. Goodbye to the mutual hands and the temples that brought love closer. Today...

The voice by Shel Silverstein  There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long, ‘I feel that this is right for me, I know that this is wrong.’ No teacher, preacher, parent, friend or wise man can decide what’s right for you – just listen to the voice that speaks inside. Good evening...