prayer

Way of the Cross by Luc Freymanc
Station 6 - Veronica Wipes the face of Jesus

Saviour of the world,
take my heart
which shrinks
from the stark realism
and ugliness of suffering,
and expand it with your love.

Open it wide
with the fire of your love,
as a rose is opened
by the heat of the sun.

Drive me by the strength
of your tenderness
to come close to human pain.
Give me hands
that are hardened
by pity,
that will dip into any water
and bathe any wound
in mercy.

Give me your hands,
hands that heal the blind
by their touch,
hands that raise the dead
and are nailed to the Cross;
Give me your hands
to tend the wounds of the body
and the wounds of the mind.

Give me your eyes
to discern the beauty of your face
hidden under the world's sorrow;
Give me the grace
to be a Veronica,
to wipe away
the ugliness of sin
from the human face,
and to see
your smile on the mouth of pain,
your majesty on the face of dereliction,
and, in the bound and helpless,
the power of your infinite love.

Lord, take my heart
and give me yours.

~~Caryll Houselander, The Way of the Cross