Michelangelo: To the Supreme Being

Saturday, November 24, 2012
Meditation:
    Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
    —Romans 9:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
That of its native self can nothing feed:
Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
That quickens only where Thou sayest it may:
Unless Thou shew to us Thine own true way,
No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.
Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing of Thee,
And sound Thy praises everlastingly.
    ... Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564), translated by William Wordsworth in The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, William Wordsworth, Philadelphia: Troutman & Hayes, 1851, p. 220 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, mold me into a vessel of mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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