The artist:
Mark Cazalet is a contemporary artist based in London and Suffolk, UK. His work is featured this year in the Thy Kingdom Come Initiative.
Day 8: Help
LOOK... and be curious.
Look at the image provided, or at the world around you.
WAIT... with prayerful expectation.
Come Holy Spirit: Thy Kingdom Come.
READ... the text with an open mind.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
—Psalm 84:1-7
LISTEN... for a word with an open heart.
What might God be saying to you in this text?
RESPOND... with prayer and action.
Oh God of longing hearts,
you make a place of stone into a place of life,
you make dry ground into pools of water.
Show us what it means to live in your presence,
to find strength in you, to create Zion’s highways in our hearts every day, year and season of our lives,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
you make a place of stone into a place of life,
you make dry ground into pools of water.
Show us what it means to live in your presence,
to find strength in you, to create Zion’s highways in our hearts every day, year and season of our lives,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And pray for those whom you feel called to pray for...
Watch this video of Pope Francis, participating in Thy Kingdom Come: