Birthday Poem

My body came out of the womb
this day, nearly a quarter century ago.
And here I am,
in a beautiful world destroyed,
temples of God ignored,
waters polluted.
But, today I hear too of fresh waters.
Somewhere, somehow, there are fresh waters.
They are flowing from the temple.
They are rushing from consecrated temples.
Oh, God, close my eyes that I may hear.
Open my ears that I may see.
Things are not as dark as my words
often lead them to sound.
Or maybe they are,
but there is light, too,
water, too,
so long as we will upturn the tables,
the stands and foundations of ill commerce,
and then we will live, holy, true.
And may my body
be among the temples flowing
life giving water to a dying world.

(Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12, Psalm 46, 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17, John 2:13:22)