DAILY MEDITATION (THURSDAY, JANUARY 14)

MEDITATION OF THE DAY

Happy Contagion

Oh happy the discovery

of leprosy in me—

urgency it brought me,

pining for relief

in tension toward a remedy,

mysterious, unknown

though I knew it by its soothing

and cleansing to the bone—

not an ointment but a person—

his solace and his will

apportioned for a purpose—

I didn’t know how ill

till I felt complete recovery

issue from his hand.

Oh happy the contagion

that led me to this man.

Rita A. Simmonds

Rita A. Simmonds (ritaasimmonds.com) is an award-winning poet. She is the author of a memoir entitled Convicted by Mercy: The Journey of Frank Simmonds from the Streets to Sanctity and four books of poetry, her latest being He Called (Magnificat). / From an unpublished manuscript. Used with permission.