God is everywhere. That’s easy to say, but do we really believe it? Are we willing to admit that God is present even in what looks nothing like holiness or love, i.e. in our sin—before, during, and after? Here’s a powerful poem from Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, September, 2008. After the storm, […]
Oh do you have time to linger for just a little while out of your busy and very important day for the goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles for a musical battle, to see who can sing the highest note, or the lowest, or the most expressive of mirth, or the most […]
The power of a good metaphor. Two stories and a poem about water. From a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace: There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two […]
Here is another poem from Saint Thomas Aquinas in honor of his feast day. This one expresses in poetic form some very deep theology on the nature of God and hints to mysticism not normally associated with the good doctor. Aquinas also shows his sense of humor in the self-deprecating jab at his weight. (Hint: […]
Today is the feast day for Saint Thomas Aquinas. I was pleasantly surprised to find the prolific theologian and philosopher, Doctor of the Church, and faithful Dominican priest also wrote poetry. I am not qualified to critique his style (or the translation), but his poetry mixes well a deep sense of faith with a lighthearted […]
The following poem/prayer is by Fr. J. Michael Sparough, S.J. It originally appeared in the journal Presence, Vol. 1, Number 1, January, 1995. My spiritual director read it to me about two months ago from the book, A Retreat with Our Lady, Dominic and Ignatius. This poem/prayer hits the very center of everything for me. […]
The taut wire hums before it breaks, like the city in the morning or late, when the lights go out. And the chain on the bridge gate— before it snaps, one link turns over slowly, and creaks. I watch an oak whose top has forgotten […]
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God or many gods. I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned. If you know despair or can see it in others. I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world […]
It 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 […]
O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless— of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light— […]
You will walk toward the mirror, closer and closer, then flow into the glass. You will disappear some day like that, being more real, more true, at the last. You learn what you are, but slowly, a baby, a boy, a man, a self often shattered, and pieces put together again till the end: you […]
I return to my favorite place along the river Sitting on the grass in the cool shade of a tree Watching, listening, being… An old philosopher said “You can never go to the same river twice.” I wonder— What changes What stays the same And what exactly is a river? The water, the banks, the […]
There is a line from a William Stafford poem: “It’s for the best,” my mother said, “Nothing can ever be wrong for anyone truly good.” And then I look at the suffering Jesus endured, and the suffering of all people. If any one was definitely good, it would be Jesus. As for me, the only […]
love 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
Silence is— the song of God, singing to every one and every thing to be, being, to be witness, with-ness, to each other, and to be with God.
From Br. Joseph — From today’s Gospel reading, John 3:16-17: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be […]
The form of haiku— Like banks of a river flows, Creativity (inspired by this article)
From Thursday’s collect in Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (emphasis added): My mind is scattered among things, not because of my work, but because I am not detached and I do not attend first of all to God. On the other hand, I do not attend to Him because I am so absorbed in […]
A thought for what needs to be done this coming year… I am a humble artist moulding my earthly clod, adding my labour to nature’s, simply assisting God. Not that my effort is needed; yet somehow, I understand, my maker has willed it that I too should have unmoulded clay in my hand. — Piet […]
It is so challenging to lead when one can not grasp the Way. Even more challenging when one knows from experience too many of the irrelevant detours available, to hear the voice of one crying out in a self imposed wilderness because this is the only way one perceives the Light… through intimacy with darkness. […]
All men complain that they haven’t enough time. They look at their lives from too human a point of view. There is always time to do what God wants us to do, but we must put ourselves completely into each moment that he offers us. I went out, Lord. People were coming and going, Walking […]
Leave me here freely all alone, In cell were sunlight never shone, Should no one ever speak to me, This golden silence sets me free! — Blessed Titus Brandsma, portion of poem written in Dachau
If I just do my thing and you do yours, We stand in danger of losing each other and ourselves I am not in this world to live up to your expectations; But I am in this world to confirm you As a unique human being, And to be confirmed by you. We are fully […]
Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back, Guiltie of dust and sinne. But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d anything. A guest, I answer’d, worthy to be here: Love said, You […]
From Br. Joseph (Sept. 18, 2007) — Sunday’s Gospel reading was about the Lost Son in Luke 15 (aka Prodigal Son). I want to share a marvelous poem written about a century ago by Charles Péguy that references this parable. The poem is actually a portion of a larger poem called “A Vision of Prayer” […]