By: Sister Mary Catherine Clark, ASC
One of Fr. Joe Nassal’s popular prayers is “Psalm of the Edge” and over recent years, we have used it in various settings. Recently it came back into my life during one of the communal prayer times we have as Leadership Team.
Hearing it anew, I was able to connect the dots with what I heard at “Entering Chaos: Engaging Differences to Make a Difference.” Debbie Asberry was one of the presenters, and I recognized a graphic she has used with us at Assembly. She emphasized the importance of THE EDGE in the ongoing, evolutionary, emerging realities of our lives. The movement toward broader, more inclusive, and deeper Christ consciousness all invites us to THE EDGE.
The EDGE, aka periphery or margins, is a place I experience as rough and raw, as engaging and exhausting. Living St Maria’s legacy, we are all called to live on THE EDGE with the witness of our daily lives and the witness of our communal profiles in courage.
Our Lenten gospels even bring us to THE EDGE. With Jesus, we go to the desert’s edge to meet the Tempter with soul-searching questions of identity. Week Two, with Jesus, we go to Mount Tabor, THE EDGE where heaven and earth meet and further revelations of identity emerge.
The second line of Joe’s Psalm reads “take us to the edge.” Doesn’t life have a way of taking us there, ready or not? When someone gives me a gentle push, how do I react or respond?
Join me this Lent in going to THE EDGE. At least once, use the photos in our DIRECTORY as you pray PSALM of the EDGE and our STATEMENT OF INTENT. With those beaming faces alongside you, draw courage and compassion to live on THE EDGE.
Psalm of The Edge (Fr Joe Nassal, CPPS)
Spirit of Gaspar and Maria De Mattias,
take us to the edge.
With a gentle push
Send us forth to fly
Beyond the confinements of our minds
To the heart of mystery.
In you we envision a new heaven and a new earth.
This vision has its time and will not disappoint.
Etch the vision in our imaginations
to help us see the time is now.
Give us courage
to find our home
on the edge
Where heaven meets earth
and hope is born.