50 Great Prayers

The last day of August must be favoured for new publications. Fifty of the best-loved prayers of the Iona Community, Scotland, have been gathered together by Neil Paynter under the title 50 Great Prayers. They have been published today and include five by Kate McIlhagga, entitled 'Circuit', 'Birth Blessing', 'Moontime of the Winter', 'Go Gently' and 'The Shadow of the Dove'. Kate (Catharine Anne McCrae), 1938-2002, married into the McIlhagga Clan, and was always very proud of the name. In the last ten years of her life she moved to Northumberland, north-east England, on the Scottish border, where she was inspired to write prayer-poems. A collection of most of her writings is published by Wild Goose Publications under the title The Green Heart of the Snowdrop. Here's one of her pieces that didn't make it into the new 50 Great Prayers anthology.

Touch of Love

As winter trees

stretch out bare arms

to a dark sky,

I stretch out

in the darkness

to find the touch of love.

As snowdrops

turn their gentle faces

to the sun,

I long to find

in that warmth

the promise of peace.

As the forest fire

breaks the shell of the seed,

so may my pain

break the shell of isolation

that protects me

from myself.

In the security of darkness,

the warmth of the sunshine,

the promise of fire,

may I blossom anew

in the miracle

of your saving love

O God.