August 18, 2016

Fr. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, S.J., Apostle of Chile's Poor

Psalm 51

I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence, and your holy spirit take not from me.
Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

 

Water Poured

The Psalm images of water captivate me.  As a parish Baptism coordinator, I am privileged to accompany families in this journey to initiation and graced welcome in our community of faith. This work has fed my faith in ways unimagined when I began. Sharing birth, adoption and journeys of faith stories deepens God’s presence to me as family faith blossoms. The water poured in Baptism invites us to the celebrate God’s unconditional love, made real in the faces of others. For the community of welcome, this water invites and fosters a renewal of our personal relationship with God. The simple act of pouring this water often brings tears and smiles and words of blessing sung in joy to all those who come to witness and honor this celebration with the newly baptized. Let this smile of grace, poured in this water be the attitude, and apparel we wear in the world.

—Mary Burke-Peterson is a parishioner at St. Nicholas Church, Evanston, an active volunteer in the Ignatian Spirituality Project, and a graduate student at Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University.       

 

Prayer

Lord, help me to speak the truth in front of the strong
and not say lies to gain the applause of the weak.
Teach me to love people as myself
and to judge myself as others.

Teach me that forgiving is the grandest for the strong
and that revenge is the primitive sign of the weak.
If you take away my fortune, leave me with hope.
If you take away success, leave me with the strength
to triumph from the defeat.

If I fail people, give me the courage to ask pardon.
If the people fail me, give me the courage to forgive.
Lord, if I forget You, don’t forget me.

—Prayer of St. Alberto Chruchaga, S.J.

  

 

 

 

Please share the Good Word with your friends!