Holy Mystery,
Today our hearts turn toward Nepal.
We hold the families who are waiting for news, the parents searching for children, the children searching for parents, and all those sitting beside an empty chair wondering whether the person they love will ever come home.
We remember those who died.
Each one carried a whole world within them. They had people they loved, work left unfinished, plans for tomorrow, stories only they could tell.
May their memory be held tenderly.
Be with those searching through mud and rubble. Strengthen rescue workers, medical teams, neighbors, monks, spiritual communities, government officials and ordinary people who have become caregivers because the moment demanded it of them.
And be with those whose grief is only beginning.
May we resist the temptation to explain their suffering from a distance. Help us instead to accompany it.
The mountains remind us that we are temporary.
The rivers remind us that we are connected.
The changing climate reminds us that our actions travel farther than we imagine.
Give us the courage to live accordingly.
May our awareness of death make us more alive.
May our grief deepen our compassion.
May our compassion become action.
And may the suffering of this moment awaken in us a greater commitment to protect this beautiful, fragile world and one another.
Amen
~ Rev. Cameron Trimble
open.substack.com/pub/