Page 20 - Prayer Book

20
Prayer B o ok
animals, the word,
and the Word of God
When You created, Lord, every living soul,
You flooded our lives with the beauties
of the virginal simplicity of the innocent animals.
And when You unfolded the shroud of the universe,
You awakened in our hearts
the vibrant emotion of Your grandeur.
Your saints, Justins (Popović and the Martyr
Philosopher), along with Saint Augustine and Saint
Francis of Assisi and the Cappadocian Fathers of
Your Creation, and Maximus the Confessor and
Saint Palamas, Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite and
Papa Planas, and many other Saints of Yours,
revealed the vast and picturesque worlds of animals.
And the indissoluble mystery of the logos, where—
while we pet them, listen to them, see their beauty in
their lines and colors, gaze at them in wonder,
they look at us with that gaze of expectation,
unable to comprehend the mystery of human
speech, so as to converse with us.