Saint Mary’s Cathedral, dedicated to The Assumption of the Virgin Mary – Killarney – Ireland

Gedurende onze Ierlandreis de voorbije lente brachten we, toen we in Killarney een paar dagen verbleven, een bezoek aan de Saint Mary’s Cathedral, gewijd aan The Assumption of The Virgin Mary. Ze werd ontworpen gedurende de Ierse katholieke gotische herleving van de 19^de eeuw door architect Alexander August Pugin.  Daar vond ik de volgende tekst, die ik vandaag wil delen:

Slow me down, Lord

Slow me down Lord. Slow me down!
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind.

Give me amid the confusion of my day
The calmnes of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
With soothing music of the singing stream
That live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking minute vacation
Of slowing down to look at the flower.
To chat with a friend, to pat a dog.
To read a few lines of a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable
Of the Hare and the Tortoise.
That I may know the race is not always to the swift _
There is more to life than increasing speed.

Let me look up into the branches of the flowing oak.
And know that it is great and strong because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord and inspire me
To send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values.
That I may grow to the stars of my great destiny.