The Prayer

I pray You’ll be our eyes,
and watch us where we go
And help us to be wise,
in times when we don’t know
Let this be our prayer,
when we lose our way
Lead us to a place,
guide us with Your grace
to a place where we’ll be safe.
La luce che tu hai
I pray we’ll find Your light
Nel cuore resterà
And hold it in our hearts
A ricordarci che
When stars go out each night
L’eterna stella sei
Nella mia preghiera
Let this be our prayer
Quanta fede c’è
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with Your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe

Sogniamo un mondo senza più violenza
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace, di fraternità

La forza che ci dà
We ask that life be kind
È il desiderio che
And watch us from above
Ognuno trovi amor
We hope each soul will find
Intorno e dentro a sè
Another soul to love
Let this be our prayer
Let this be our prayer
Just like every child
Just like every child

Need to find a place,
guide us with Your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe
E la fede che
Hai acceso in noi
Sento che ci salverà

(Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli)

A Touch of Heaven

It had been a very disheartening day. The doctors had given us the worst of news. Our daughter, who had just completed her first brain surgery to remove a tumor and was going through radiation treatments, was now offically given a two percent chance of survival as this type of cancer had no cure.

My wife and I decided to take our daughter to lunch before continuing our afternoon conversations. We went to a local resteraunt where we sat in silence waiting for the waitress. Our daughter Molly wouldn’t hear of such sadness or silence so she played happily with crayons and paper while we sat and stared at the floor.

I noticed a very elderly couple sitting a few booths away, they too in silence never speaking a word. I couldn’t help but wonder what challenges they had faced in their life and if they ever faced such terrible news about a child of theirs.

We eventually ordered our lunch and still sitting in silence we ate what we could. At some point I became intrigued by the old couple and I watched them more intently with each passing minute. I thought to myself that they hadn’t yet spoken to each other and I wondered if it was the peace they were enjoying or the food or maybe both. However, at some point I lost interest and put my focus back on my lunch.

Molly was still talking away and enjoying her meal and her mom and I both listened and tried to be happy in her presence but it wasn’t going very well. All of a sudden I saw this hand come out of nowhere. It was huge and I could tell that it had been afflicted with arthritis. The knuckles were swollen and the fingers were crooked and off center. I couldn’t take my eyes of that hand. The hand drifted down and landed on my daughter’s tiny six year old hand and as it did I looked up; it was the old woman who had been sitting with the old man in silence eating their lunch.

I looked into her eyes and she spoke, but not to me. She looked at my daughter and simply whispered, “If I could do more for you I would.” And then she smiled and moved away to join her husband who had moved towards the door.

I heard a “Hey look, a whole dollar.” Molly spoke with excitment as she discovered that the old lady had placed a crumpled one dollar bill on the back of her hand. I looked down and saw the dollar bill and quickly realized that it had been left behind by the old lady. I looked up to thank her, but she was gone. I sat stunned, not sure what had just happended and then I looked over at my wife. In almost unison, we broke out into a smile. The sadness of the day had been wiped out by the crippled hand and generous touch of an old lady.

The dollar, although exciting to Molly, was not what made us smile or begin to feel differently, it was the offer from an old lady who felt our hurt and our suffering. The crippled hand symbolized a healing touch and made us realize that we did not have to fight this battle alone; that others cared and wanted to help. We felt up-lifted and soon our day filled with more happy thoughts as we spent the rest of our lunch planning the next day at home with fun filled activities for eveyone.

I will never forget that crippled arthritic hand that taught us such an important lesson. One does not have to go through life facing hardships all alone; the world is full of compassionate and understanding people. Even those that are suffering from their own afflictions have much to give to each other.

The hand that covered Molly’s on that day still covers it. And although Molly is no longer with me, I can see her holding hands with that old lady now, both hands perfect and both faces filled with smiles and laughter. And though Heaven has these two perfect angels now, the lessons that they both taught me will remain forever in my heart.

by Tim Reynolds

Kyrie Eleison

Sabtu Kudus, pekan kemarin adalah perayaan Yesus yang turun ke dunia orang mati sebelum bangkit keesokan harinya pada hari Paskah. Dari sore sampe malem aku habiskan untuk mengikuti ibadah Taize di gereja. Dari awal memang aku pengen banget mengikuti prosesi masa Pra Paskah sampe perayaan Paskah tahun ini dengan lebih sungguh-sungguh. Mungkin bagian puasanya aja yang aku nggak bisa penuh Aku lagi bener-bener pengen ‘menepi’ buat merenung kembali tentang apa yang udah lewat dan apa yang aku inginkan di depan sana.

Mulai dari penghayatan masa sengsara sampai perayaan Paskah kemaren memang pengen aku pake sebagai momentum untuk bangkit lagi (and I really wish for that). Akhir-akhir ini aku ngerasa mulai kayak orang disorientasi aja. Makin lama makin nggak tau arah.

Aku ngeliat kakakku sama adekku, kayaknya cuman aku aja yang masih asyik bermain di luar rumah sementara mereka berdua udah pulang mandi, siap-siap mo nonton TV. Bukannya Mama nggak memanggil aku pulang, tapi aku cuma belum menemukan alasan yang tepat buat pulang ke rumah menyusul kakak dan adekku. Tapi di sini aku juga udah capek. Aku juga udah bosan.

Tuhan bilang, mintalah maka akan diberikan kepadamu. Ketuklah, maka pintu akan dibukakan bagimu. Tuhan, aku kan udah minta, apa masih ada yang kurang dengan permintaanku? Atau aku mengetuk kurang keras? Kan nggak mungkin kalo aku gedor pintuNya … hiks, hiks …

Capek banget Tuhan … Padahal aku cuma butuh 1 jawaban saja, bukan malah teka-teki, apalagi teka-teki silang Atau malah kayak yang terjadi sekarang, seolah-olah Engkau memberikan beberapa alternatif jawaban (pilihan ganda?), trus minta aku memilih mana yang paling tepat menurutku. Nah … masalahnya, tepat buat aku kan belum tentu tepat buat Engkau. Trus begitu waktu koreksi tiba, Engkau baru kasih tau jawabannya. Sementara yang ada di sini aku cuman bisa konser sakit hati … Aku nggak mau hal yang kayak gitu terulang lagi …

Lord, I really wish for the last one … I’m so tired now …

Long Way to Carmelitan Valley

Setelah sekian lama berkutat dengan berbagai masalah hidup dan kerjaan (berlebihan banget yah), akhirnya datang juga waktu untuk bisa menyepi sejenak, mendekatkan diri kepada Sang Pencipta. Mengambil waktu di akhir cuti, hari Minggu kemarin memang sengaja aku khususkan untuk ke Lembah Karmel, Cikanyere.

Berangkat pagi hari, sekitar pukul enam pagi, memang sengaja kita maksudkan untuk menghindari macetnya Puncak di akhir pekan. Selain itu dengan berangkat pagi, kita juga berharap dapat mengikuti prosesi Minggu Palma di Lembah Karmel ini.

Lembah Karmel sendiri merupakan sebuah tempat wisata rohani sekaligus rumah biara dari para biarawan Carmelitan. Biara ini sendiri didirikan oleh Romo Yohanes Indrakusuma, yang telah mendalami dan mengembangkan meditasi sebagai salah satu cara untuk mendekatkan diri kepada Tuhan dan menolong sesama.

Yang lebih mengagumkan lagi adalah pada waktu mulai memasuki area Lembah Karmel ini, kita akan segera menjumpai hamparan berhektar-hektar taman hijau berbukit dengan beberapa buah bangunan pokok yang dipergunakan untuk berbagai keperluan, seperti wisma-wisma untuk retreat, tempat makan, toko buku, hingga tempat untuk berjualan berbagai macam hasil kebun dan olahannya. Untuk misa dan berbagai perayaan lainnya biasa diselelenggarakan di Gedung St. Theresia yang merupakan bangunan utama atau gereja yang didirikan di bagian perbukitan paling atas lembah ini. Hehe … masuk gedung St. Theresia ini udah kayak masuk di stadion aja … gedhe banget, desainnya emang dibuat kayak theater gitu dengan altar di bagian depannya …

Pulang dari Lembah Karmel sudah menjelang sore. Untuk menghindari macetnya arus balik Puncak di akhir pekan gini, akhirnya kita memilih jalan alternatif yang sebenernya juga nggak ada satu pun dari kita yang tau ataupun pernah melewatinya. Jalan alternatif yang ditunjukkan oleh pedagang buah pinggir jalan ini justru ngasih kita pengalaman offroad puluhan kilometer jauhnya karena memutar bukit. Bayangin aja kalo jalan tuh blom diaspal, bahkan blom diapa2in … tanahnya merah, berlumpur … hiiyy sempet takut juga tuh, takut ban kita selip atau gimana gitu, coz bukan mobil buat offroad neh … Tapi malah gara-gara jalan alternatif ini kita dapet view pemandangan Puncak yang keren banget …

Hmm, liburan yang kayak gini neh yang keren … harus dicoba lagi kapan2 …