The end of a tough week for celebrities ...

The superstition in the cult of celebrity is that death comes in threes. This week, it seemed to play out with the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

As a Boomer, I'm still trying to get my head around the news. As a Christian, I stopped for daily offices at Mission St. Clare and was presented with these words from a 17th century poet, Baron Friedrich R. L. von Canitz:

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

All your hopeful plans confessing
ask for blessing on that good which you would do
but if you should need correction, ask direction
pray for purpose
clear and new.

Cry for help, when griefs assail you,
good friends fail you, life seems hopeless, death appears.
One whose child knew deep affliction,
crucifixion,
ever waits to dry your tears.

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

Thank you, God, for this day in which to serve you. I thank you that I know I am yours, and you know what this day holds for me. Cleanse me of any thing that would hinder the work of your Holy Spirit in my life. Use me to touch someone in your name today. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.