Lord, before you we have a desert, poor in life, poor in fertility, poor in fruit! Yet you are the flower and the fruit, you are the resurrection in this desert! Lord, we ask you, may we be open to you and not close ourselves off, that through you we may bloom, that through you we may bear fruit! May we be a flowering desert in the strength and beauty of your love! We lie here like an extinct and unfruitful life, and we should be the womb of the bride that embraces you, that gives you birth, that delivers you. May you, Spirit of resurrection, blow over us and take control of us, so that we may feel you, so that we may carry you, so that we may deliver you; you, God, all in all, you, Holy Spirit, all in all! (…) May you rise, Lord, may you flow from our desert, from our barrenness, from our inexperience and become all in all.
(Erich Przywara SJ /1889–1972/, Prayers of this Age, 7; during World War II)
