May you know that absence is alive with hidden
presence, that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absences in your life grow full of eternal
echo.
May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere
where the presences that have left you dwell.
May you be generous in your embrace of loss.
May the sore well of grief turn into a seamless flow
of presence.
May your compassion reach out to the ones we never
hear from.
May you have the courage to speak for the excluded
ones.
May you become the gracious and passionate subject
of your own life.
May you not disrespect your mystery through brittle
words or false belonging.
May you be embraced by God in whom dawn and
twilight are one.
May your longing inhabit its dreams within the
Great Belonging.
John O'Donohue
Photo: Peter Bowers