[todaysdate]

By Christi Oritz

The Kingdom of God is here,

the Kingdom of God is now at hand,

the Kingdom of God is ever becoming.

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

Enable us to give you more of ourselves,

to invite you beneath the surface,

into the darkness of our souls and lives,

so that You might meet us there and enable us

to become more and more full of grace

in the nature of our beings.

For the glory of God

is the human person fully alive,

fully alive in You and You in us.

Transubstantiate us into your Divinity,

not by our own Goodness but by yours,

not by our doing, but by Grace,

grace freely given, grace fully, freely received,

grace transplanted into

the family tree of humanity,

into the wood of the cross,

planted in the dirt of our world,

stained with the blood of our sins and tears,

and made Holy by You who are Holy.

That very Blood, becomes our Cup of Salvation,

those very Tears,

the water of our Baptism to new Birth,

that very death an entrance into Newness of Life

in You, with You, and through You.

You who Alone are God, you who are Pure Love,

Pure gift to all those who would receive;

receive the present,

the present of Your Presence

right now, right here,

in the presence of our lives,

not out there, up there, in spite of,

but with, in, for,

and because you Love us,

not who we want to be.

And it is Your Love alone

that makes us who we want to be,

who you Call us to Be, who we Are.

Taken from St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses (Against Heresies), 180.