A prayer before the yellow flower of late summer

It bears the name Jerusalem Artichoke,
a sunflower risen up through the long heat of summer.
When all else succumbs to the dry heat of August;
when all else seems to wilt and fade,
this one flower emerges strong and brilliant in the summer’s last days.
Patience groomed it and its humble acceptance of the last place
in summer’s many miracles will not go unnoticed.
It realizes what has called it into being
and it turns toward it in praise and thanksgiving.
Girasole, “turning to the sun” you give glory to God
whose majesty set it above to spill life into a world
open to receive its life-giving warmth.
The wait was worth every moment, the wait to finally become
what it was meant to be.
Lord, my Sun and my Life, allow me the grace in these days of change
to turn towards You with my total being.
May I never hold back what I am before You,
but hand it over to You with joy and trust,
as does the beautiful yellow flower in these last days of summer.
Amen

by Father Gabriel Zeis, Catholic Campus Ministries, The College of New Jersey