I watched a rosebud very long
Brought on by dew and sun and shower,
Waiting to see the perfect flower:
Then, when I thought it should be strong,
It opened at the matin hour
And fell at evensong.I watched a nest from day to day
A green nest full of pleasant shade,
Wherein three speckled eggs were laid:
But when they should have hatched in May,
The two old birds had grown afraid
Or tired, and flew away.Then in my wrath I broke the bough
That I had tended so with care,
Hoping that its scent should fill the air;
I crushed the eggs, not heeding how
Their ancient promise had been fair :
I would have vengeance now.But the dead branch spoke from the sod,
And the eggs answered me again :
Because we failed dost thou complain?
Is thy wrath just? And what if God,
Who waiteth for thy fruits in vain,
Should also take the rod?— Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1849
Posts Tagged ‘hope’
I Watched a Rosebud
· Saturday, 13 Mar 2010, noon · Saint Euphrasia, pray for usHomesick
· Monday, 18 Jan 2010, 1 am · Saint Margaret of Hungary, pray for usDo you still get homesick?
Do you dare let yourself feel that ache,
That deep emptiness of longing, a hole of nothingness?
Or do you cover it up,
With half promises, with misdirected hopes, with distractions?
Do you still long for wholeness,
Completeness, oneness, with another?
Do you still hunger?
Do you still long for God, for heaven, for home?
Laughing With
· Wednesday, 5 Aug 2009, 10 pm · Saint Afra, pray for usA song by Regina Spektor (listen):
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when
they’re starving or freezing or so very poorNo one laughs at God
when the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
when it’s gotten real late
and their kid’s not back from their party yetNo one laughs at God
when their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
when they see the one they love
hand-in-hand with someone else
and they hope that they’re mistakenNo one laughs at God
when the cops knock on their door
and they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
when there’s a famine or fire or floodChorus
But God can be funny
at a cocktail party when listening
to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
and they get so red in the head
you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny
when told He’ll give you money
if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
who does magic like Houdini
or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket
and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious, ha haHa ha
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
when they’ve lost all they got
and they don’t know what forNo one laughs at God
on the day they realize that the last sight
they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God
when they’re saying their goodbyeschorus
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God in hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
when they’re starving or freezing or so very poorNo one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God
Reaching
· Thursday, 5 Mar 2009, 12 am · Saint Eusebius of Cremona, pray for usThere’s a time I can recall
Four years old and three feet tall
Trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar
And both were out of reach
And later on in my high school
It seemed to me a little cruel
How the right words to say always seemed to stay
Just out of reach
Well I should not have thought it strange
That growing causes growing pains
‘Cause the more we learn the more we know
We don’t know anything
But still it seems a tragic fate
Living with this quiet ache
The constant strain for what remains
Just out of reachChorus
We are reaching for the future
We are reaching for the past
And no matter what we have we reach for more
We are desperate to discover
What is just beyond our grasp
But maybe that’s what heaven is forThere are times I can’t forget
Dressed up in my Sunday best
Trying not to squirm and to maybe learn
A bit of what the preacher preached
And later lying in the dark
I felt a stirring in my heart
And though I longed to see what could not be seen
I still believed
I guess I shouldn’t think it odd
Until we see the face of God
The yearning deep within us tells us
There’s more to come
So when we taste of the divine
It leaves us hungry every time
For one more taste of what awaits
When heaven’s gates are reached(Chorus)
I believe that’s what heaven is for
There’s a time I can recall
Four years old and three feet tall
Trying to touch the stars and the cookie jar
And both were out of reach— Carolyn Arends
On An Ocean
· Monday, 16 Feb 2009, 11 pm · Saint Juliana, pray for usSaw the movie, Henry Poole Is Here. Very, very good movie. Many levels of symbolism. Hope to write more about it later. Here are the haunting lyrics to the song played at the climax of the movie, “On An Ocean” by Lisa Gerrard and Jeff Rona. (Hear the song at Jeff Rona’s myspace page.)
On an ocean white
Of roaring waves
I see your light
And golden face
A precious gift
Of your longing arms
Hurt me not
Just sing to me, my love
Oooo, Oooo
How come so
Soooo…
Sweetly child you sing
And all the joy you bring me
Gooooes…
Goes our loved ones home
And know I will, I will be waiting
On an ocean
Sweetly child you sing
On an ocean
On an ocean
Soooo come…
Soooo…
A Step Ahead
· Saturday, 14 Feb 2009, 8 pm · Saints Cyril and Methodius, pray for usHope is a step ahead of me.
If I Stand
· Saturday, 25 Oct 2008, 9 amSo if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home— Rich Mullins
Advent Longing
· Friday, 24 Oct 2008, 9 amIt feels like I’m in Advent, waiting. (I never seem to be in sync with the current liturgical season.) I feel like an old dog trying to find a comfortable spot to lay down—he circles and circles around the same spot, but no angle quite looks comfortable enough to settle on.
I am uncomfortable in my own skin. And there is no where to go or run or do anything. Just wait.
I am not comfortable waiting. But there is no other choice. Only God can fill this God-shaped hole in me. It felt like I was standing on His shoulders back in the summer, now it feels like I’m standing on the edge.
Advent Longing
In the darkness of the season,
in the silence of Mary’s womb,
new life waits and grows.
Hope is shaped in hidden places,
on the edges, in the depths
far from the blinding lights
and deafening sounds of consumer frenzy.In the darkness and silence of my own life,
I wait,
Iistening for the whisper of angel wings,
longing for a genuine experience of mystery,
hoping for a rekindling of joy
and the establishment of peace.I lean into the darkness
and silence.
Expectant.— poem by Larry J. Peacock
The Voice Under All Silences
· Saturday, 7 Jun 2008, 3 pmlove is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:
the truth more first than sun more last than star— E.E. Cummings
Keep Hope Alive
· Thursday, 14 Feb 2008, 2 pmFrom Br. Joseph —
This is the first reflection on seven signposts for the season of Lent (and for all seasons). Signposts give us direction. They point to some place. They involve action, movement. Many signposts call us to remember something important, some thing that is already there but is often covered up by the minutia of daily life. Signposts represent a choice—to follow or not to follow. It takes courage and grace to follow where a signpost points. Keep hope alive. This signpost comes from a priest and former campus minister of Mount St. Mary. He always signed his letters with this phrase. It is a reminder of the importance of hope. Hope and faith are like two sides of the same coin. Sometimes faith seems broken, hidden, lost, and so hope pulls one through these dark times. Sometimes hope seems lost, and it is faith that pushes one through. Faith is the muscle, the driving force; hope is the spark of light that illuminates the way and warms a heart. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him, that in the end, the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (p.901) This passage reminds me of Easter morning, of Christ’s Resurrection, and of His victory over death. There is indeed “light and high beauty for ever beyond” the Shadow’s reach. Keep hope alive—for the little things today, and for the big things over a life time. Our Lady of Mercy is praying for us…