Come to Me

Come over to me, all you who are restless,
     and I will teach you how to be quiet,                                          

     how to leave yourself alone.

Come over to me, all you who are anxious,
     even if I don't take your anxiety away,
     I will change it into fresh currency,
     as you turn your cares
     into greater belief in my caring.

Come over to me, all you who are lonely,
     I was lonely too,
     and could find no place
     to lay my head.

Come over to me, all you who worry
    what others really think about you.
     It doesn't matter.
     They misunderstood me,
     no matter what I did.

Come over to me, all you who are always
     talking and pleading and explaining yourselves to others.
     I know you inside out.  I know the worst.
     So you can come to me without any explanations.

Come over to me, all you whose great plans for yourself have failed.
     You don't know how lucky you are.
      And others too.

Come over to me, all you who can't stand yourselves.
     I touched lepers,
     and once I called a man out of a tomb
     who had been stinking there for four days.
     So come over to me--
     I can stand just about anything.

Come over to me, all you who can't stand other people.
     I know what is behind their misery.
     I know the worst in them
     as I know it in you.
     And I embrace you both.

Come over to me, all you who fret about the past.
    I was there, I was part of your past,
    and I have forgotten all about it.
    So be like me and forget it too.

Come over to me, all you who can't live peacefully in the present.
    Come to me now, without reserve.
    That is the way to live peacefully in the present.

Come over to me, all you who fear the future.
    Do not fear.  I am your future.
                                                                         by father Thomas Dominic Rover, O.P.