Years Ago and Even More NOW

Years ago I came across this prayer by Teilhard de Chardin from his work The Divine Milieu translated from the French:

"O God, grant that I may understand that it is You

Who are painfully parting the fibers of my being

in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance

and bear me away within Yourself."

Now that I am older and more internet savvy, I decided to search for the prayer on-line to use in the blog. Well, as the famous spinach eating sailor says, "Blow me down!" 

I had no idea it was lifted from a longer prayer. Much more appropriate now that I'm 63 than when I found the excerpt almost 25 years ago! Entitled "Prayer for the Grace to Age Well" here it is:

"When the signs of age begin to mark my body

(and still more when they touch my mind);

when the illness that is to diminish me or carry me off

strikes from without or is born within me;

when the painful moment comes to which I suddenly awaken

to the fact that I am growing ill or growing old;

and above all at the last moment

when I feel I am losing hold of myself

and am absolutely passive within the hands

of the great unknown forces that have formed me;

in all these dark moments, O God,

grant that I may understand that it is you

(provided only my faith is strong enough)

who are painfully parting the fibers of my being

in order to penetrate to the very marrow 

of my substance and bear me away within yourself."

Teilhard de Chardin

My gracious!  I had no idea the extent of that prayer. Even now, Lord, help me to embrace this truth once again.