In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake, coming back to this life from the other, more secret, movable and frighteningly honest world where everything began, there is a small opening into the new day which closes the moment you begin your plans. What you can plan is too small for you to […]
I wrote this poem in less than an hour. If you know me, this is very unusuall, especially with anything poetic. This poem was inspired by and originally posted with Susan’s poem. It sums up a small portion of my experience this past year following the Spiritual Exercises. All I truly have is the present […]
The Father knocks at my door, seeking a home for his son: Rent is cheap, I say. I don’t want to rent. I want to buy, says God. I’m not sure I want to sell, but you might come in to look around. I think I will, says God. I might let you have a […]
all i have is this moment here now in this place that is my heart will i unwrap today? this gift inside my heart? tomorrow—darkness yesterday—darkness HERE NOW LIGHT who will tend this blossom? who will till the soil? the soil in my heart? ten thousand flowers ten thousand awakenings ten thosuand songs here now […]
O GOD, I love Thee for Thyself, And not that I may Heaven gain, Nor because those who love Thee not, Must suffer Hell’s eternal pain. Thou O my Jesus! Thou didst me Upon the Cross embrace; For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace; And griefs and torments numberless, And sweat […]
For three gray days, this dead black bird laid next to the curb where I parked my car. I sat there after I turned off the engine each morning and stared at it for a long moment and wondered about life and death, sunshine and rain, heaven and hell, joy and sorrow. It is an […]
Love brings peace. Peace brings patience, dispels fear, lifts up hope, deepens faith, extends trust, creates a space for forgiveness and acceptance; thus energizing love to flow to others. — Mark Woodward
In the quiet spaces of my mind a thought lies still, but ready to spring. It begs me to open the door so it can walk about. The poets speak in obscure terms pointing madly at the unsayable. The sages say nothing, but walk ahead patting their thigh calling for us to follow. The monk […]
Writing about empty mind is not easy. When I have got it, there are no words. When the words come, it goes away. Sitting in anger and fear, Mind is full of the past and future. Images of catastrophes big and small Jostle for a seat at the brain. Resentment, incredulity and disappointment Slide their […]
Why no! I never thought other than that God is that great absence in our lives, the empty silence within, the place where we go seeking, not in hope to arrive or find. He keeps the interstices in our knowledge, the darkness between […]
Will you sometime who have sought So long and seek still In the slowly darkening hunting ground Catch sight of some ordinary month or week Of that strange quarry You scarcely thought you sought, Yourself? The gatherer gathered, The finder found, The buyer who would buy all in bounty bought, And perch in pride on […]
Inside an open rose a tree frog no bigger than my thumbnail. I try to imagine rest like that, tucked in such a bed of petals. I try to imagine prayer like that, listening so intently in the early light and saying so little. — Bernardo Taiz
Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk? Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that I had a beehive […]
Lord let me find back the lost treasure of time: Time for gentle listening to a friend, for sharing the play of a child, For consoling a suffering fellow man, For thinking without strain, for labour without pressure. Time to delight in birds and flowers, blooming […]
Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost, No birth, identity, form—no object of the world. Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing; Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain. Ample are time and space—ample the fields of Nature. The body, sluggish, aged, cold—the embers left from earlier fires, The […]
When I rise full of LOVE for life and laughter and the me that I am LOVE will meet me… When I rise above my own neediness fears and frustrated tears and allow myself […]
They tell how it was, and how time came along, and how it happened again and again. They tell the slant life takes when it turns and slashes your face as a friend. Any wound is real. In church a woman lets the sun find her cheek, and we see the lesson: there are years […]
I am lost in a fog of nothingness. I cannot seem to see or recognize or understand much of anything. I see faint lights scattered about me. Some are brighter than others, some less. One or three of them give off a little heat, but barely enough to feel the warmth. I stumble and trip […]
When Love speaks to you, believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams, as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends […]
What is hope? To want? To desire? To expect that what’s envisioned may indeed happen? YES to all of the above. Is hope that gut feeling that it’s worth holding out and hanging on for just a little longer? ABSOLUTELY. Is hope the core of human condition? CERTAINLY. Can […]
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I might go safely out into the darkness.” And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be more to you than a light, and safer than […]
There once was a shining Christmas tree Standing out where all could see. Its brilliance captured every eye And seemed to cheer each passer by. “The lights are so bright,” they would say And hesitate to walk away. The tree stood proud ablaze with light For every light was burning bright. Then one bulb was […]
You cannot teach faith; you have to radiate faith. You cannot tell others to hope; you have to radiate hope. You cannot describe love; you have to radiate love. You cannot give what you do not have. You cannot radiate goodness unless you are filled with goodness. […]
Love is the willingness to give up a part of yourself you think you know, to discover a part of yourself you never knew existed. — John Squadra Makes you wonder what you will find if you give yourself completely to God?
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feeling is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to […]