My Prayer-Poem for the 38th Day of Lent, Friday 26 March 2021

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My Prayer-Poem for the 38th Day of Lent, Friday 26 March 2021
The Commemoration of Harriet Monsell, Founder of the Community of St John the Baptist, 1883

They used to call them "penitents";
victims of many things in many ways
in a time when class and gender
and almost any shade of difference
could lead to sufferings untold.
Women, precious in Your eyes,
now penitent, not only for their sins
but for the sins of those
who used, abused and traded them.

And so it was her heart was drawn
to mercy, the House of Mercy;
A sacred space of washing clean
through love and tender care
the stains of hardship and despair.
A Sister with the Saviour’s heart
became one to depend upon
and dedicated that religious House
to the Baptiser of all penitents-John

©️Mark Andrew Smith
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