An excerpt from "Thoughts on Solitude" by Thomas Merton

                                   My Lord My God,
                                   We have no idea where we are going.
                                   We do not see the road ahead of us.
                                   We cannot know for certain where it will end.
                                   Nor do we really know ourselves,
                                   And the fact that we think that we are following
                                   Your will does not mean that we are actually doing so.
                                   But we believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
                                   And we hope we have that desire in all that we are doing.
                                   We hope that we will never do anything apart from that desire.
                                   And we know that if we do this,
                                   You will lead us by the right road
                                   Though we may know nothing about it.
                                   Therefore we will trust you always though we may
                                   Seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
                                   We will not fear, for you are ever with us,
                                   And you will never leave us to face our perils alone.

"Hello Chicago!" [Photo by Laurin-Whitney 2011]

"Passover Remembered" by Alla Bozarth-Campbell

Pack nothing.
Bring only your determination to serve
and your willingness to be free.

Don't wait for the bread to rise.
Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing.
Be ready to move at a moment's notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind-
fear, silence, submission.
Only surrender to the need of the time-
love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Do not take time to explain to the neighbours.
Tell only a few trusted friends and family members.
Then begin quickly, before you have had time
to sink back into old slavery.

Set out in the dark.
I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire, and I will be with you in the cloud.

You will learn to eat new food
and find refuge in new places.
I will give you dreams in the desert
to guide you safely to that place you have not yet seen.
The stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.

Outsiders will attack you, and some follow you
and at times you will get weary and turn on each other
from fear, fatigue and blind forgetfulness.

You have been preparing for this
for hundreds of years.

I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way
and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be so changed by weathers and wanderings
that even your closest friends will have to learn your features
as though for the first time.

Some of you will not change at all.

Some will be abandoned by your dearest loves
and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth
who feel abandoned by you.

Some will find new friendships in unlikely faces,
and old true friends as faithful and true
as the pillar of God's flame.

Sing songs as you go,
and hold close together.
You may at times grow confused
and lose your way.

Continue to call each other by the names I've given you
to help remember who you are.
Touch each other,
and keep telling the stories.

Make maps as you go,
remembering the way back from before you were born.
So you will be only the first of many waves
of deliverance on the desert of seas.
It is the first of many beginnings-
your Paschaltide.

Remain true to the mystery.
Pass on the whole story.
Do not go back.
I am with you now and I am waiting for you.