Streams 'N Stirrings

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

February 8, 2026: Ximena DeBroeck, Ph.D. Preaches for the Fifth Sunday i...

A Prayer of Quieting . . .

A Quieting Prayer

I weave a silence on my lips,

I weave a silence into my mind,

I weave a silence within my heart.

I close my ears to distractions,

I close my eyes to attentions,

I close my heart to temptations.

Calm me, O God, as you stilled the storm,

Still me, O God, keep me from harm.

Let all the tumult within me cease,

Enfold me, God, in your peace.

(Author Unknown ~ Celtic Tradition)

Amazingly astonished . . .

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

~ e.e. cummings ~

The Flame of Transformation . . .

Photo by : Doris Klein, CSA

Blessing That Undoes Us

On the day you are wearing

your certainty like a cloak

and your sureness goes before you

like a shield or like a sword,

may the sound of God’s name

spill from your lips as you have never

heard it before.

May your knowing be undone.

May mystery confound your

understanding.

May the Divine rain down

in strange syllables

yet with an ancient familiarity,

a knowing borne in the blood,

the ear, the tongue,

bringing the clarity that comes

not in stone

or in steel

but in fire, in flame.

May there come one searing word –

enough to bare you to the bone,

enough to set your heart ablaze,

enough to make you

whole again.

https://www.janrichardson.com/ By Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace

Sunday, February 1, 2026

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Let Us Never Forget!

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Master of the Universe:

On this most solemn of occasions, we open our hearts, minds, and souls to you.

As we remember the six million, the eleven million, the indifference, and the evil;

As we honor the heroes, the martyrs, the survivors, and the victims;

We ask you to soothe our souls, to amplify our memories, to strengthen our resolve, and to hear our prayers.

We ask for your presence in our midst; for healing, light, and love to soothe and ease our pain, as we commemorate the horrors that were committed not long ago. Please, oh Holy One, be gentle with our souls.

We ask that you help us to forever remember the stories we hear. As tales of the atrocities are shared, as we re-encounter the unthinkable, we ask that these memories be strengthened and never fade, in the hope that those who remember the mistakes of the past will not repeat them. Please, oh Holy One, amplify our ability to remember.

We ask that you strengthen our will, that you help us to ensure that the world does not again see such monstrosities. We say “never again” and we dedicate ourselves to this principle, to the idea that justice does not allow persecution, that genocide shall not be repeated, and that vigilance is the responsibility of freedom, at all costs. Please, oh Holy One, make manifest our resolve that these horrors remain but memories.

We ask that you answer our prayers. We pray that the call of evil falls on deaf ears, that those who fight for freedom and justice always prevail, that those who need protection do not become victims. We pray that the lessons we learn from this darkest hour allow all humankind to better itself, and to truly and nobly embody the idea that we are each made in Your image. We pray for the souls of the millions and millions of victims of this brutality; we pray that we honor their lives and their memories by observing this day, and by doing everything in our power and beyond to make sure that no such shadow again darkens our world.

Above all, we pray for shalom—for wholeness and peace—to be in our midst, now and forever. Please, oh Holy One, answer our prayers and bring us a world devoid of hatred, filled instead with peace.

Ken yehi ratzon – may this be God’s will. And may we all say together, Amen.

by Rabbi David Katz

This prayer was originally shared at the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station’s 2014 Holocaust Remembrance Service.