Thursday, June 28 was the feast of St. Irenaeus. Irenaeus has come to have a lot of meaning for me. I am a member of the Mt. Irenaeus community and regularly attend Mass there. I’m also a member of the St. Irenaeus Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order. This week I also came to realize that my wife’s birthday is the same day as the feast of St. Irenaeus. That’s an interesting coincidence.
Prayer of St. Irenaeus
It is not thou that shapest God
it is God that shapest thee.
If thou art the work of God
await the hand of the artist
who does all things in due season.
Offer Him thy heart,
soft and tractable,
and keep the form
in which the artist has fashioned thee.
Let thy clay be moist,
lest thou grow hard
and lose the imprint of his fingers.– St. Irenaeus