A Prayer For Writers

The following prayer is from a pamphlet published by The Christophers, a New York City-based inspirational group that was founded in 1949 by Father James Keller (1900-1977), a Roman Catholic priest, who was the son of an Irish immigrant father. According to a Wikipedia article, "The Christophers preach a doctrine of religious tolerance and intend their publications to be generally relevant to those of all faiths."

Their motto is "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." The motto, states Wikipedia, "reflects the philosophical orientation of the organization, which emphasizes positive action to create a better world in such various arenas as political honesty, caring for the sick and poor, and dealing with substance abuse." The origin of the motto, notes Wiktionary, is a proverb (possibly Chinese) and means that "in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation."

"Writing is a lonely business, Lord.

A Writer sits at a typewriter [,computer,] or with pen in hand--

and often the page remains blank.

Touch their fingertips 

and jog their brains

with a spark of your creative power.

Gently direct them

to communicate more for truth than profit

to give us the highest aspirations

of the human spirit

while not flinching from our tragic flaws.

Help them

to share with us

moments of adventure

instants of joy

hours of reflection.

Don't let them down, Lord.

Or let them disappoint You.

In print, or on the stage, or on the airwaves

their words shape our very lives, images, or distortions of the

Word that was 'in the beginning.'

Amen."

 

Learning A New Language

At age 53, literary and political essayist Pankaj Mishra, author of From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2012), among other books, proves it is never too late to learn a new language. When he was asked in the New York Times Book Review (March 6, 2022) "What  books are on your night stand?," he responded:

"I am learning Spanish, so the bedside pile consists almost entirely of books I previously enjoyed in English translation and now wish to read, absurdly ambitiously, in the original: poems by Borges and Alejandra Pizarnik, and novels by Antonio Munoz Molina, Rafael Chirbes and Almudena Grandes."