Here’s another poetic intercession from In a World of Tears and Sorrow, which you can buy this week, until 11 October, at a 10 per cent discount, using the code WORLD10. Simply type the code into the relevant box at the KM checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the last poetic reflection I’ve chosen from the book to run alongside this promotion, this one exploring questions of faith prompted by the needs and suffering of so many in the world.
I saw a loved one die today
I saw a loved one die today,
they faced such dreadful pain,
and once again, it seemed, O God,
my prayers had been in vain.
Another bomb went off today,
one more atrocity,
more carnage on our city streets –
why do you let it be?
I watched the news in tears today,
appalled by scenes of death,
of famished children, skin and bones,
give up their fight for breath.
So much, it seems, belies our faith,
so little making sense.
It’s hard, Lord, not to ask ourselves
if it’s just mere pretence.
And yet in all life’s tragedies
we still need grounds for hope;
some higher cause in which to trust,
some faith to help us cope.
So when such questions trouble us,
and we can’t work them out,
Lord, grant us then, strange though it sounds,
the faith we need to doubt.