God, Father, Eternal One,
we dare to speak to you
because you have given us your true name - ABBA.

Our lips have spoken many foolish words,
cruel and selfish words.
Cleanse them now, so that the holiness of your name
may flow out to the world from each of us,
your children.

You alone are the Holy One,
You alone are goodness and love, being and eternity.

Let your holiness blaze out over the world
in the heart of all creatures.

Forgive us the pride that clings to our self-made virtue,
and the arrogance with which we ignore you.

Let your power loose upon the world to destroy all evil,
but let your love go with it,
for your are ABBA, whose name is mercy.

We pray for your glory.
May it break through the heavens,
so all the world may see You.

We bow down before that blinding beauty,
and we know again that we are
your needful creatures.

But we are more than that:
we are the children you love
with a love that is barely reflected
in all the mothers and fathers of the world.

We dare to run, then, as your children,
to rest in your holiness.

Reprinted from St. Cecilia's bulletin, Rockway, NJ
(Fr. Pat Browne)

*In accordance with Liturgiam authenticam, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 2001 document on liturgical translations, the word "Father" has been substituted for this poem’s original wording, which utilized the divine name signified in the sacred Tetragrammaton. Liturgiam authenticam directs that "the name of almighty God expressed by the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and rendered in Latin by the word 'Dominus,' is to be rendered into any given vernacular by a word equivalent in meaning."
(cf., http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20010507_liturgiamauthenticam_en.html).