Everywhere present

O Lord, grant us to greet the coming day in peace. Help us in all things to rely upon Thy holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Thy will to us. Bless our dealings with all who surround us. Teach us to treat all that comes to us throughout the day with peace of soul and firm conviction that Thy will governs all. In all our deeds and words guide our thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events let us not forget that all are sent by Thee. Teach us to act firmly and wisely without embittering and embarrassing others. Give us strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring. Direct our will, teach us to pray, pray Thou Thyself in us. Amen. -Orthodox morning prayer

I will give thanks for the infection which intruded upon our day, leaving me and my weak and confused mother solitary and vulnerable in the antiseptic confinement of room number four in the ER for countless hours; a room whose artificial lights and plastic chairs, innocent enough, threatened to dull the senses as I sat near motionless awaiting my mother's diagnosis, tempting me to dispel my fears with the push of a television button, to use the virtual outside to distract me from the present moment, to crowd the void with noise; a room silent, silent as a hermit's cell, removed from the visible and pressing mundane cares of my ordinary life; a space in which grace was offered anew, the choice to be still, to quiet my heart, my mind, and to listen, and to truly see.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the young man with mussed, blonde hair and khaki shorts I saw as I stood in the hallway while a nurse drew vials of blood from my mother's vein.  He is weeping, his face is flushed scarlet as he cries out in anguish. O God someone he loves must have been badly hurt. But no. His desolation is his own. Have mercy on the two men walking behind him, their faces are blank, expressionless; they turn, their handcuffs hang listlessly from their belts, their guns thrust behind their backs are made visible and the young man's wails of desperation continue as he is led into room number three, the room adjacent to our own. Grant him, grant them, Your peace.

Have mercy dear God on the young CNA with the blonde hair who was one of the many flitting in and out of room number four (because my mother is not known by her name but only by her room number). She entered our room with a face marked with boredom and issued a vague greeting, without meeting our eyes, without extending a smile, performing her job like an automaton, and then exiting, her role in our drama exhausted. The door is slightly ajar, and I watch her unnoticed as she goes about the mundane tasks of her ordinary life. She appears disgusted as with gloved hands she rapidly wipes cloths over the seat and lid of a used commode, casting off the bacteria left behind from an all too human body. Words come to my mind, a joke to perhaps elicit a smile, of our shared solidarity in the banality of daily sanitizing toilets, but I do not speak. Help us, the girl with the white shirt and blonde pony tail and me with the black shirt and brown pony tail to remember that even the most ordinary things, even washing off human waste, can be something beautiful for God. 

Have mercy on us and all those in this place, our crucified and resurrected God. Pray for us Man of Sorrows acquainted with our grief. Quell our fears and save us with Your love.

Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows himself everywhere, in everything-in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without him. It's impossible. The only thing is that we don't see it. - Thomas Merton, "Life in Solitude"