Even my shadow shall shimmer: a modern monk’s prayer translated–

(“Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”)———-

Make even my shadows fruitful in light, like Peter’s and Paul’s.

Make us tight. Contour us in Your Light-to where, we cast shadows, together!

In collaboration, we are, the might of Your casting visions…

the force and nuance of Your sight.

(You’re tender palms gather us as sparks, as we are, and share us where You will-

wherever you choose to fleck our beings! You cause us to specifically shine, as a song of flight to another world and time!)

And, make even my handkerchiefs useful to You-

lein me out, make me new, despite the fallings!

Fling me, where you will-and,

the handkerchief of my being-flutter it, where You wish.

Call, the gesture of who I am in You, to that particular spot of wistful landings-that resonate receptive space

in which i was meant to be grounded, and call home.

Or, like the bones of Elisha still bringing

healing long after death, cause my marrow to be tomorrow!

And cause, the afterglow to tumble into more life.

 So make me to overflow from the essence, without the strife, of trying to become..

or over-glow, in self excited expectation; instead, let me surrender into

true Glow of

the inner mechanics of Your incarnation.

 You’ve formed within me-not based on my own performance-

the geometry of my own calculations-

but the glory coming off Your pleasure in coming into who i am.

So let me be satisfied with that specific shine.

And, make what I touch and what touches me

instantly Graced with Your tangible Presence, in practical ways seen and unseen!

 And if this is too much to ask,

make me alone, a dwelling for Your Own private pleasures unseen—a

house for your personal enjoyments-a cup of hot tea in the midst of war;

a bubble bath on the battlefield!

The rest of what I am

is meaningless apart from Your indwelling Presence; so i say yes

to eating dinner, making home together, co-shimmering-regardless of me; so then again, make me

even more me, by Your being You, within us. Or else,

take me only to where You are; so we can live

uninterruptedly together in the endless shimmer

of Your Own expectations of us. The resonance of Yourself

is my residence, forever.

To be a disco ball-inside and out-despite myself, in that multifaceted bout,

that combat of shimmer,

reflecting, in the end, some Other, endless Glorious, Me.

Amen.