God, we kneel before You in our misery, for You could consume everything. God, we kneel before You in our solitude, for You could make a desert out of us completely.
God, we kneel before You in our abandonment and lostness, for You could leave us completely alone without any help, without any comfort, without any guarantee, without a single right.
However, God, it is precisely for this reason we kneel in the indescribable hope of our misery, in the indescribable hope of our solitude, in the indescribable hope of our lostness. For You have prophesied it and Your word is truth: You Yourself would want to find Yourself abandoned in misery, You Yourself would want to find Yourself abandoned in solitude, You Yourself would want to find Yourself abandoned in lostness! You Yourself would want to embrace us in misery, solitude, lostness. You Yourself would want to create from us Your Body, Your temple, Your city, Your nation, Your world in the midst of misery, in the midst of solitude, in the midst of lostness! (…)
God, we would like to become the holy Advent of Your coming, … in Your love, which can do all things, which accomplishes everything, which gives all.
(Erich Przywara SJ /1889–1972/, Prayers of This Age, 20; during World War II)
