Monday Morning Offering: 6/16

I first wrote the phrase, « Come summer with me, Lord… » in 2009. This post has changed a number of times over the last 16 years but it remains (or continues to become) one of my favorites… This edition includes 4 new stanzas for the summer of 2025…

In the town where I live now, school vacation will begin this week.I remember childhood summers that seemed without horizon: a time and place as close to heaven as any young
heart might ever dream. A child’s summer joy comes a gift from God: a taste of timelessness,
a promise of perpetual play, a season of sun and unending fun. Who but God might offer such a gift? But where have those childhood summers gone? Have I lost my hope in summer’s promise? If I don’t believe in summer, how can I believe in heaven where summer’s joy
must surely never end… Heaven: where summer’s sweet and timeless peace heals all the other
seasons’ grief…

Come, summer with me, Lord,

come, summer with me

deep down in my soul…

Restore
my faith in summer’s time,
in
rest, in joy, in play, in you…

Come,
summer in my heart

and
dwell there, Lord,

as
if summertime would never end,

as
if all time were a child’s time,

eternal
time, when school is always out

and
joy is ever in…

Come, summer with me, Lord,

come, summer with me

deep down in my soul…

In
these long-awaited days, Lord,
slow
me down

and give me time to be with you,

extra
time to spend with you,

to find you always by my side…

Let
any summer doldrums lull, calm

and call me to
a place of peace, of prayer,

       of
meeting you again:
    like bumping into an old friend
       on
the streets of my vacation…

Come, summer with me, Lord,

come, summer with me

deep down in my soul…

Help
me relax, Lord,
and
find a peaceful place
where
I can meet you face to face,

as when you
took your own rest, Lord:
   leaving
city and crowds behind,
       going up the mountain,
out to the desert,
           sailing
across to the opposite shore,
   off
by yourself to
sit in the silence

and pray…

Come, summer with me, Lord,
come, summer with me

deep down in my soul…

Slow
me down, Lord,

   and
let the busyness that runs me
       and
the work that runs me down
           settle
to a pace that lets me be,
   just
be with you in the quiet shade
       where
my heart speaks to yours
           and
yours to mine,

where,
in silence, I can hear your voice,

the whisper of your
word…

Come, summer with me, Lord,
come, summer with me
deep down in my soul…

And this summer especially, Lord, I pray:

don’t the booming colors of fireworks

blind or deafen

to the sights and sounds of war

all around the world…

Don’t let my leisure time,

my resting and my reverie,

distract me from the needs of others,

nearby and faraway…

Don’t let my privilege

prevent me from seeing or

protect me from knowing

the misery and pain of so many…

Don’t let me make of summer

a time to take a break from the gospel,

or to rest from the work of justice,

or excuse myself from the sacrifice

my faith and belief require…

Come, summer with me, Lord,
come, summer with me
deep down in my soul…

And if my summer time
is crowded

with work and things to do,
if vacation time is short

or it’s simply not
in sight,
if problems bear down hard, Lord,

like the season’s
noonday sun

– even then, especially
then –

come summer with me,
Lord,

come summer with me

deep down in my
soul…

I offer you my summer, Lord,

the summer that’s your gift to me…

As the sun comes up each morning,

as the stars shine bright all night,

as soft rains fall upon me,

I bow to you and pray:

come, summer with me, Lord,

come, summer with me

deep down in my soul…

Here’s a musical interlude,

seasonal, simple and summery…

SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Praying to the Virgin Mary

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