Sunsong (Gethsemane prayer, Holy Thursday) sunlight pours upon the field in early autumn. wheat grows thin, nourishing the wind. soft-spoken daffodils wait for the tide, sheltered only by a song. now shall my song be lifted. poems of dawn born on spirit’s breath tremble in the darkness. winter-cold night lies deep upon us. petals torn, my heart has been rent from me. yet I will trust a little longer, clinging to this song, that you […]
Each year at the start of Lent, I notice again my need for God’s grace to bring me back from all the ways I’ve wandered away or gotten lost. These poems describe three of those experiences. Sometimes I Feel So Frail sometimes I feel so frail; and what does God do but win with a look my wonder, will, all; again; You have made it all as You have made it, and built us to […]
Days Hazed days hazed, holding their knowing, known in hope only, open too slowly, while these days filled too full quit too quickly, knowing not yet caught. yet hazed days are wonders working, slowly seen, but granting sight so that in these days our lame leave burdens behind— and carry us; and hearts fill full; and knowing catches us. When Such Winter Chill when such winter chill creeps up close so swift slow-seeping, pausing, playing, […]
That Christmas, when we were in love, he gave me a watercolor he’d done some years before of the Holy Family’s return from Egypt. He explained that, while he was painting it, he knew it was to be given away, but he didn’t then know to whom. As he painted, he was thinking about what it would be like to be really at home, to be in the place where you belong for all time. […]
Jubilee You’ve multiplied the many fruits of every gift You’ve given me: music, service, intellect, with love-begetting-love multiplied most; and now like a plant in a pot You ask me to rest; and looking up I see Your hand and feel grace shower down restoration, emancipation, readying me for Your coaxing forth the new growth, the new buds, the new fruits, the new gifts-for-the-world. At rest I receive what I need for next, what serves […]
Love as if loving is the first thing on your to-do list. Love as if you have no other plan but to love. Love as if you are confident that love makes good things happen. Love as if this is your first opportunity to love. Love as if this is your last opportunity to love. Love as if loving can heal all wounds. Love as if loving is your first purpose on earth. Love as […]
The moniker “doubting Thomas” has always bothered me. Thomas did, after all, have great faith, enough faith to give up everything he knew—family, friends, homeland, and career—to follow Jesus. Yet we remember him for one fleeting moment of very understandable hesitation. In fact, I wonder how different his reaction to hearing the news that Jesus was alive might have been from my own? When I place myself in prayer next to Thomas in the Gospel […]
In honor of National Poetry Month, enjoy this musical rendition of Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by the Euphonage. If you’re receiving this via e-mail, click through to watch the video As Kingfishers Catch Fire (Song). Read the text of the poem here.
If you’re reading this, you lived to see the new year. This is no small matter! Your life makes a difference in the universe, whether or not you embrace your God-given power. May this prayer accompany your initial steps into the future. God of all time, help us enter the New Year quietly, thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others, mindful that our steps make an impact and our words carry power. […]
T. S. Eliot reads his poem “Journey of the Magi” in the audio track of today’s featured video. For those of you who have been following the Sacred Space/Pray as You Go retreat “Journeying with the Magi,” there is an obvious tie. But all of us can appreciate Eliot’s words as a reflection piece before celebrating the feast of the Epiphany in a few days. If you’re receiving this via e-mail, click through to watch […]
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