Diarmuid O’Murchu has been selected as the next author to be considered by the Book Club and, after a brief excursion on my “faithful” Ipad, I am looking forward to it. O’Murchu is a worthy successor to Teilhard de Chardin and it appears that the Catholic Church may have experienced benefit from its steep learning curve at the time of Teilhard. A book of prayers by William Cleary is evidence of this, each of them being attributed by the author to the influence of O’Murchu. Some of the author’s comments are interesting :

“Prayer is thought turned into action”
“Religion completes rather than competes with evolution”
“Prayer spurs you to focussed listening”
“Prayer is never a request for something from God”

Obviously we are here dealing with a concept of prayer very different to that which might be called “traditional”.

This morning, with a few amendments. I made one of Diamuid’s prayers my own. I still find it difficult to say “ Come Holy Spirit” and have replaced it with “Spirit of Life”. Quite a few other amendments have been made to “personalise” it but the thrust of the prayer remains intact.

Spirit of Life, breathe upon our troubled world.
Shake the tired foundations of our crumbling institutions.
Break the rules that enslave us ,
And, from the dust and rubble, gather up the beginnings of a new creation. 

Spirit of Love, enflame once more
the dying embers of our weariness.
Shake us out of our complacency.
Whisper our names once more.
Break open the prisons of our inner being
and scatter the gifts of grace. 

Spirit of Peace, lead us to places we would rather not go.
expand the horizons of our limited imaginations.
Awaken in us dangerous dreams for a new tomorrow,
and rekindle in our hearts the fire of prophetic enthusiasm. 

Spirit of Creation, whose light outshines ours,
whose peace outperforms our warfare,
and whose promise invigorates our every effort,
live in us,
as was the case with Jesus of Nazareth
in whose name I pray this day. 

Diarmuid (I did meet him once a long time ago) treads a torturous path within the establishment of the Catholic Church and needs to be read “with a pinch of salt”.  His relationship with the Church brings to mind a phone call that I received some years ago from the Secretary of the Uniting Church. He asked if I would retire because “they had no category in which to place me”. I duly retired and still today regard it as one of the greatest compliments I have ever received.