Stay with Me

Padre Pio, known as the Ultimate Priest, a Capuchin monk who received the stigmata, keeps appearing to me through the guise of websites, candles and now a cd featuring my dear schoolfriend Will Todd. The cd "Padre Pio Prayer" includes several musical versions of the prayer "Stay with me" and Will's was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation. It is a beautiful piece of music inspired by a heartfelt prayer full of longing, overflowing with humility and echoed in many hearts.

Stay with me Lord, stay with me Lord, stay with me Lord for You are my life, my strength and my faith,
my passion and light.
Lord stay lest I forget You,
abandon You, fall in the dark.
Oh Lord my soul is poor, but let it be a home for You,
Stay with me Lord.

This is the first verse of a version of the prayer written by Ben Dunwell who often writes for Will. The mosaic forms the cover of the cd, was created by William M. Carrigan in 1955, and now graces the library at Mt. de Sales Academy in Catonsville, MD.

Jesus asked the disciples to stay with him on his last night, to watch and pray. They couldn't. They were too human, too frail, too lacking in humility perhaps... Jesus cries out to God, asking why his Creator has abandoned him.

Padre Pio called on the Christ to stay with him because he knew that Jesus felt the fear he was feeling, that utter loneliness of facing death. Pio trusted in the God who reaches out beyond our human frailty and restores us.

The water-dragon lizard's favourite perch is on a sturdy branch over water. The water dragon is one of the animal totems i need as it symbolises courage and compassion during the challenge of facing painful past experiences. The totem brings memories and wishes, perhaps long hidden, to the surface. The Chinese water dragon lizard has a parietal eye, a light-sensitive "third eye" located in the top of the head. I need this third eye but sometimes the light is too bright...

On a personal level i see Gail often being my sturdy branch; on a global level i see the branch as God, with Jesus sitting beside me. Together we face the water that is life, trickling and tumbling, roaring and receding, thrilling and threatening. I have two aquatic creatures now as totems and also a bird that dives into water...

The psalmist puts it this way:

Those who put their trust in You are like giant trees standing firm and rooted deep.
As the trees grow strong in fertile soil,
so we mature in the garden of Love,
nourished by the Word of life.

Psalm 125 (from Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan C Merrill)

To whom am i able to be that tree? How can i stay planted in fertile soil, nourished by God?