The Embrace
Quiet, silent
The winds of the Heart
Do blow...
With kindness
The words of the Heart
Do flow...
With patience
The will of the Heart
Is known...
With great care
The love of the Heart
Is sown...
All grace,
All mercy
From this Sacred Heart
Does flow.
How fair,
So very fair
Is this Heart,
One so eternally blest.
How saving,
So very saving,
In troubling times
Is this Heart of Mercy.
Glory and honor,
Worship and adoration,
Is due this Heart,
This Heart of Mercy.
Worthy of praise,
Endless praise,
Is due this Heart,
This Heart of Mercy.
Set me afire,
Heart of Mercy,
This very day...
Afire in love.
Grace me with a love
Blind to this world,
To give to this world,
No matter its Fall.
Grant me,
Sacred Heart Most Holy,
A calming peace to serve,
To serve you completely.
Give me peace
To accept this world,
To live in this world
But not for this world.
Give me courage
To love still more
Even after we part
From this sacred embrace.
Shower me in grace
To love this day
And every day from now;
Give to me this embrace.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Embrace
These are just a few words from a writing session in the Commons from a couple of weeks ago... So much is left to be done and there's so little time to do it within. If I don't have peace, how can I give it? I'm still working on that one.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
An Abandonment to God's Will
If there has been anything with resonance for me within the past week it has been this phrase buried within a weekday homily. The context of its placement to Scripture matters not as Scripture is wholly based on the concept and therefore would require me to quote the whole of it in order to grasp what is before me in the present.
The resonance is, in addition to this, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth, where in the first chapter he declares quite skillfully that man's innate desire is to know not so much his innocuous beginnings but what future is to become of him. So much so is this the case that man wishes to tear asunder the curtain to see the realization of his salvation. We are so much in search of the Prophet within our lives that we can often times lose sight of much else.
It is in contemplation and discussion that we see Jesus the Prophet come to bear His Truth. It is not an easy Truth to accept nor is it a popular one. The road is tough simply because of the fact that much of the time we don't realize we aren't on it and that we should be. We would much rather go through torment than apply our gifts of life because that road would appear to be the easier one.
I would suppose quite the opposite. I would say that we should take the more difficult of paths before us, the one that appears to be the harder of the two, not because the road would be the path of least resistance but because in that path of privation and uncertainty not only do we find ourselves and the meaning of ourselves but so too God and the meaning of God Himself—in some of the most ironic of ways.
We may laugh and we may cry on this path of privation for as it says in Proverbs, "Even in laughter the heart may be sad, and the end of joy may be sorrow" (Proverbs 14:13). However, it is in both sorrow and joy that we find our place amongst everything of Creation.
More often than not with the more answers that one receives, the more questions arise in one's heart. This has certainly rung true for me. I know not the route of this path of privation, but I do know that through a certain amount of abandonment of the extraneous excesses of worrying in life to God and His will while making willful choices in line with His teachings, I can find peace within Him and within His Divine Plans. These are not plans for fame or plans for fortune. No, desires of such things of lust ought to be left for the pettier of our kind. What we ought to seek for is the love of our fellow man.
Empathy is an oft-shunned quality amongst the most masculine of the world. They are somehow above or supposed to be above showing an honest and forthright concern not only for himself but for the Other in his midst. Man, in the modern sense, is meant to wall himself in a fortress impenetrable, on a fort atop a hill that cannot be breached by emotion. Ah, but when the walls of this mighty fortress are breached and the hillsides scaled, what a disappointing loss for this kind of man within!
It is the man who places himself like a city on a river without defenses, who freely trades with others on this body of water that is scoffed, derided, and laughed at in our society. He is the "weaker" of the two men. He is more open to attack and therefore defeat at the hands of his foe. And so goes the reasoning of our day.
But I ask of you this: which of these men are truer to his own self? Which is truer to his innate being? Who bears the face of Christ more?
I declare it to be the latter of the two. It is the man whose defenses are not walled up, who freely trades amongst the others upon the body of water and thus leaves himself open to attack.
All is not what it seems. Is the more defended one the man who spends all his resources of life to defend himself inside his inner keep and ready himself for a siege war that will last him his existence until he takes his last warm breath and expires from this earth? Or could it be the man who appears to be the weaker of the two who has a treasury not of bullets and bombs or machines and mortars but has instead a treasury of priceless gems and golden implements to ward off the despair of the looming attack?
It is the Pearl of Great Price that resides at the heart of the man of the second kind. He will not be overcome with defeat or slaughter. It is he who will rise above any challenge at hand.
And yet men of our day are cut down, are demoralized in the struggle, and lose faith in their way to greatness, to peace, and to salvation. We are the ones fed insecurity and concern of what the world thinks of our actions, our beliefs, and our very real and personal love for the Other in our lives. Somehow we must show the man of the first kind to the outside world but be the one of the second to only a select few confidants, a short list expected never to grow very large. How realistic is this even for the most "typical" masculine men of the current day's sense and all its varied sensibilities? None whatsoever.
We should reject this unrealistic and destructive demand upon our manhood. We should reject the demoralizing vices and temptations of lust and greed that pollute not only the judgment of our minds but the love of our hearts. We should reject the chains of sin to which we have bound ourselves in taking what appeared to be the easier road at the onset. How else are we to become the true men we are to be? How else can we be better examples of a fully sacrificial love to the Other in our lives? How else are we to be Christ to the Other in our midst?
There is no other way but to give in abandonment our selfish desires to God's will in order to fully transform what was once the broken man found in the archetype of Adam and thus be transfigured into a more Christ-like—and therefore more holy—example in a world beset with problems and very few men of good worth ready to solve these problems. It is in this transformation and transfiguration that we become those men of good worth to truly be the providers that we have been called to be and ought to be in a world torn asunder in strife.
The resonance is, in addition to this, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth, where in the first chapter he declares quite skillfully that man's innate desire is to know not so much his innocuous beginnings but what future is to become of him. So much so is this the case that man wishes to tear asunder the curtain to see the realization of his salvation. We are so much in search of the Prophet within our lives that we can often times lose sight of much else.
It is in contemplation and discussion that we see Jesus the Prophet come to bear His Truth. It is not an easy Truth to accept nor is it a popular one. The road is tough simply because of the fact that much of the time we don't realize we aren't on it and that we should be. We would much rather go through torment than apply our gifts of life because that road would appear to be the easier one.
I would suppose quite the opposite. I would say that we should take the more difficult of paths before us, the one that appears to be the harder of the two, not because the road would be the path of least resistance but because in that path of privation and uncertainty not only do we find ourselves and the meaning of ourselves but so too God and the meaning of God Himself—in some of the most ironic of ways.
We may laugh and we may cry on this path of privation for as it says in Proverbs, "Even in laughter the heart may be sad, and the end of joy may be sorrow" (Proverbs 14:13). However, it is in both sorrow and joy that we find our place amongst everything of Creation.
More often than not with the more answers that one receives, the more questions arise in one's heart. This has certainly rung true for me. I know not the route of this path of privation, but I do know that through a certain amount of abandonment of the extraneous excesses of worrying in life to God and His will while making willful choices in line with His teachings, I can find peace within Him and within His Divine Plans. These are not plans for fame or plans for fortune. No, desires of such things of lust ought to be left for the pettier of our kind. What we ought to seek for is the love of our fellow man.
Empathy is an oft-shunned quality amongst the most masculine of the world. They are somehow above or supposed to be above showing an honest and forthright concern not only for himself but for the Other in his midst. Man, in the modern sense, is meant to wall himself in a fortress impenetrable, on a fort atop a hill that cannot be breached by emotion. Ah, but when the walls of this mighty fortress are breached and the hillsides scaled, what a disappointing loss for this kind of man within!
It is the man who places himself like a city on a river without defenses, who freely trades with others on this body of water that is scoffed, derided, and laughed at in our society. He is the "weaker" of the two men. He is more open to attack and therefore defeat at the hands of his foe. And so goes the reasoning of our day.
But I ask of you this: which of these men are truer to his own self? Which is truer to his innate being? Who bears the face of Christ more?
I declare it to be the latter of the two. It is the man whose defenses are not walled up, who freely trades amongst the others upon the body of water and thus leaves himself open to attack.
All is not what it seems. Is the more defended one the man who spends all his resources of life to defend himself inside his inner keep and ready himself for a siege war that will last him his existence until he takes his last warm breath and expires from this earth? Or could it be the man who appears to be the weaker of the two who has a treasury not of bullets and bombs or machines and mortars but has instead a treasury of priceless gems and golden implements to ward off the despair of the looming attack?
It is the Pearl of Great Price that resides at the heart of the man of the second kind. He will not be overcome with defeat or slaughter. It is he who will rise above any challenge at hand.
And yet men of our day are cut down, are demoralized in the struggle, and lose faith in their way to greatness, to peace, and to salvation. We are the ones fed insecurity and concern of what the world thinks of our actions, our beliefs, and our very real and personal love for the Other in our lives. Somehow we must show the man of the first kind to the outside world but be the one of the second to only a select few confidants, a short list expected never to grow very large. How realistic is this even for the most "typical" masculine men of the current day's sense and all its varied sensibilities? None whatsoever.
We should reject this unrealistic and destructive demand upon our manhood. We should reject the demoralizing vices and temptations of lust and greed that pollute not only the judgment of our minds but the love of our hearts. We should reject the chains of sin to which we have bound ourselves in taking what appeared to be the easier road at the onset. How else are we to become the true men we are to be? How else can we be better examples of a fully sacrificial love to the Other in our lives? How else are we to be Christ to the Other in our midst?
There is no other way but to give in abandonment our selfish desires to God's will in order to fully transform what was once the broken man found in the archetype of Adam and thus be transfigured into a more Christ-like—and therefore more holy—example in a world beset with problems and very few men of good worth ready to solve these problems. It is in this transformation and transfiguration that we become those men of good worth to truly be the providers that we have been called to be and ought to be in a world torn asunder in strife.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Words of Kindness
Your words of kindness
Shower my heart with great joy.
Your smile of sincerity
Strengthens me with much peace.
Your eyes of compassion
Draw me even closer to you.
Your soft loving touch
Gives my heart warmth so great.
Inspiration you have given,
An inspiration to carry on.
At the start,
My breath was taken away;
Your beauty entered in.
But your words,
Those very sweet words,
Have been greater yet...
Planted in my heart which sings.
You compel me
To be a better man,
A better man than I am...
To grow more...
To give more...
To see more...
To be more.
So glad is my heart
That you are there
To so greatly brighten
Even the darkest of days.
Shower my heart with great joy.
Your smile of sincerity
Strengthens me with much peace.
Your eyes of compassion
Draw me even closer to you.
Your soft loving touch
Gives my heart warmth so great.
Inspiration you have given,
An inspiration to carry on.
At the start,
My breath was taken away;
Your beauty entered in.
But your words,
Those very sweet words,
Have been greater yet...
Planted in my heart which sings.
You compel me
To be a better man,
A better man than I am...
To grow more...
To give more...
To see more...
To be more.
So glad is my heart
That you are there
To so greatly brighten
Even the darkest of days.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Grace Is a River
Joy cannot be sustained by just willing it. Joy is being with others and changing others. Grace is a key component of joy...if one is not filled with grace how can joy enter into one's life?
Today has been a rather exhausting day of deadlines piling up, of expectations being blown away, and of an aching desire for the semester to go away and at the same time the wish it would be longer.
It seems I have no answers today, just questions, just pains. I have tried many ways to shake the questions, the doubts in my mind. I have come so far, but it seems not far enough. I am trying to assuage the doubts, the stress. I am finding new paths to relieving my stress as the old ones are dying away.
I am starting to focus more on the smaller things, especially on campus. They're everywhere now that it's spring, especially while walking around. I've noticed the sweeter smell of bushes I've yet to notice before. With the help of a friend, I narrowed it down to be Japanese Pittosporum, which has a sweet smell that reminds me of the gardenias from home.
I was entirely worn out this afternoon, so I went to the Commons after my last class because I had a hunch that someone would be playing the piano in the lobby. Sure enough there was a fellow playing and so I dozed...and dozed. The chords of music continued to float, to dance in my mind. I cannot play, but the music calms me even when I am the tensest. It also helps me in my writing moods, to bring together something so effervescent as words on one's breath. I then recalled the poem I wrote a few days before, which I have posted below.
I knew of a few things that could have made the moment better and that could have made the moment perfect. I hoped for it, but it didn't come. The only thing that came was the thought: not today. So I left to go home and for dinner. But I was stopped again, this time in the park between Langford and the O&M building behind the Administration Building. The sun caught my eyes like it does in the evenings. It was flooding the park in a most pleasing orange.
I took another nap on one of the benches, letting the orange sunlight flood my eyes as I looked up to the oak trees' branches overhead. All I heard were the birds' chirps and the quiet, cool feeling of the breeze. The breeze felt like it was an invisible blanket of comfort, like God was tucking me in for rest. I had finally relaxed. I had finally smiled for the day.
I felt compelled enough to go to the Bonfire Memorial for the first time this semester. I hadn't been there since my photography trip the Saturday morning before the A&M-Kansas football game last fall. I couldn't help but imagine that I was one of those fallen. That it was my name on the bronze plaque. I felt that would be easier than what is going on now. But their words gave me some peace, some perseverance to go on.
I don't want to leave this community, but I know I must eventually. I am being drawn to stay, to look closer at the small things, to breathe in the sweet smells, to go further, to go deeper in reflection and in love. I may be without much visible joy right now, but it is on shining the light underneath it all that my joy resides and shimmers. It may be buried, but it is not gone.
Joy is not about excluding the sorrows of life but accepting them and THEN rising above them. Joy is never to be a stagnant feeling...I just wish I wasn't so stagnant right now. My ship isn't moving on this listless sea. Maybe tomorrow will be a day where the winds take up my sails and move me forward to joy. Until then rest is my closest friend.
Peace is found not so much in happiness, but in an acceptance of what was, what is, and what will be. I am slowly finding that peace again.
Today has been a rather exhausting day of deadlines piling up, of expectations being blown away, and of an aching desire for the semester to go away and at the same time the wish it would be longer.
It seems I have no answers today, just questions, just pains. I have tried many ways to shake the questions, the doubts in my mind. I have come so far, but it seems not far enough. I am trying to assuage the doubts, the stress. I am finding new paths to relieving my stress as the old ones are dying away.
I am starting to focus more on the smaller things, especially on campus. They're everywhere now that it's spring, especially while walking around. I've noticed the sweeter smell of bushes I've yet to notice before. With the help of a friend, I narrowed it down to be Japanese Pittosporum, which has a sweet smell that reminds me of the gardenias from home.
I was entirely worn out this afternoon, so I went to the Commons after my last class because I had a hunch that someone would be playing the piano in the lobby. Sure enough there was a fellow playing and so I dozed...and dozed. The chords of music continued to float, to dance in my mind. I cannot play, but the music calms me even when I am the tensest. It also helps me in my writing moods, to bring together something so effervescent as words on one's breath. I then recalled the poem I wrote a few days before, which I have posted below.
I knew of a few things that could have made the moment better and that could have made the moment perfect. I hoped for it, but it didn't come. The only thing that came was the thought: not today. So I left to go home and for dinner. But I was stopped again, this time in the park between Langford and the O&M building behind the Administration Building. The sun caught my eyes like it does in the evenings. It was flooding the park in a most pleasing orange.
I took another nap on one of the benches, letting the orange sunlight flood my eyes as I looked up to the oak trees' branches overhead. All I heard were the birds' chirps and the quiet, cool feeling of the breeze. The breeze felt like it was an invisible blanket of comfort, like God was tucking me in for rest. I had finally relaxed. I had finally smiled for the day.
I felt compelled enough to go to the Bonfire Memorial for the first time this semester. I hadn't been there since my photography trip the Saturday morning before the A&M-Kansas football game last fall. I couldn't help but imagine that I was one of those fallen. That it was my name on the bronze plaque. I felt that would be easier than what is going on now. But their words gave me some peace, some perseverance to go on.
I don't want to leave this community, but I know I must eventually. I am being drawn to stay, to look closer at the small things, to breathe in the sweet smells, to go further, to go deeper in reflection and in love. I may be without much visible joy right now, but it is on shining the light underneath it all that my joy resides and shimmers. It may be buried, but it is not gone.
Joy is not about excluding the sorrows of life but accepting them and THEN rising above them. Joy is never to be a stagnant feeling...I just wish I wasn't so stagnant right now. My ship isn't moving on this listless sea. Maybe tomorrow will be a day where the winds take up my sails and move me forward to joy. Until then rest is my closest friend.
Peace is found not so much in happiness, but in an acceptance of what was, what is, and what will be. I am slowly finding that peace again.
Sweet Symphony
Raise, O Angelic Choruses,
Your voices in the heavens.
Show your boundless beauty
In voices ceaselessly raised
To the God of Endless Glory,
For through Him we are saved.
O God of Divine Mercy,
Give us voices worthy,
Worthy to sing You praise.
Give us the chords of love,
Chords in which to praise
The love You plant within us every day.
Strengthen our chords of love
Until we reunite in the Clouds above,
Where all sorrow is wiped away.
Lengthen our chords of love
So we may not only love our friends
But even our enemies to the very end.
Combine our chords of love
So that we may do Your will
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Bring together all our chords
So that they may be pleasing,
Pleasing in every way, O Lord.
Grant us Your mercy, O Lord,
In this world and the next,
Creating a sweet symphony so very blest.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Be a Light: Change the World
It is an amazing testimony to God's giving grace when a certain type of person just falls into one's life. When, all of a sudden, you find yourself presented a gift not of material form but of spiritual form, such that there is no physicality to the gift but it is wholly between two separate and distinct spirits.
God's love and glory does operate in mysterious and distinct ways, but it is Him through it all. These are not premonitions I speak of but actual distinct movements within one's life.
I have felt the movements; I have seen the fingerprints of His hands. I know not where this Force is pulling me, but I know of its quiet presence, even in the most innocuous of items in one's existence.
Just as a diamond has many facets to it, where the Light is reflected uniquely through each facet, so is it in this universe of ours.
The simple reality is that even with the smallest change to this universe an indelible change is made to what once existed. This is why I laugh so at the Back to the Future movie trilogy. Even with the smallest of changes, say a chance encounter never intended to occur or a subsequent rekindling of the connection, can ultimately and drastically change the way this universe is reflected. Notwithstanding are some micro-changes that do not trickle down in future realities, but in the end each of us is drastically effected in our lives by even the smallest of choices.
Do I go for coffee today? Do I make a weekend trip? These questions may seem trivial, but out of the infinite number of choices of possible actions, you've chosen this one—to read these words I have composed. Why?
Only God knows all things and only God can foresee all things. What this does to your future consciousness is unknown to me. All I know for certain is that we must be thankful for what we have in the present and in very small ways, make the necessary steps in one's own life to bring God's will out to bear and through this bear the fruit of His Word and His Spirit.
I am thankful for this gift of His Spirit, this gift that isn't rationed but given freely to us by God for us in word, deed and thought by so many who act according to His will. We cannot do big things. We can only do little things in Christ and—through those actions—change the world.
Be a light to the world and you will leave a mark, not your own but Christ's—a mark that is imperishable, a seed planted that will not die but will give life. It is through this that you will bear the fruit that will remain.
Praise be to God for true friends, for as it is written in Proverbs 18:24: "Some friends bring ruin to us, but a true friend is more loyal than a brother." True friends should be always treasured, for they are worth more than all the riches of the world and all the time to discover them. It is worth it all.
As Jesus said:
In closing:
God's love and glory does operate in mysterious and distinct ways, but it is Him through it all. These are not premonitions I speak of but actual distinct movements within one's life.
I have felt the movements; I have seen the fingerprints of His hands. I know not where this Force is pulling me, but I know of its quiet presence, even in the most innocuous of items in one's existence.
Just as a diamond has many facets to it, where the Light is reflected uniquely through each facet, so is it in this universe of ours.
The simple reality is that even with the smallest change to this universe an indelible change is made to what once existed. This is why I laugh so at the Back to the Future movie trilogy. Even with the smallest of changes, say a chance encounter never intended to occur or a subsequent rekindling of the connection, can ultimately and drastically change the way this universe is reflected. Notwithstanding are some micro-changes that do not trickle down in future realities, but in the end each of us is drastically effected in our lives by even the smallest of choices.
Do I go for coffee today? Do I make a weekend trip? These questions may seem trivial, but out of the infinite number of choices of possible actions, you've chosen this one—to read these words I have composed. Why?
Only God knows all things and only God can foresee all things. What this does to your future consciousness is unknown to me. All I know for certain is that we must be thankful for what we have in the present and in very small ways, make the necessary steps in one's own life to bring God's will out to bear and through this bear the fruit of His Word and His Spirit.
I am thankful for this gift of His Spirit, this gift that isn't rationed but given freely to us by God for us in word, deed and thought by so many who act according to His will. We cannot do big things. We can only do little things in Christ and—through those actions—change the world.
Be a light to the world and you will leave a mark, not your own but Christ's—a mark that is imperishable, a seed planted that will not die but will give life. It is through this that you will bear the fruit that will remain.
Praise be to God for true friends, for as it is written in Proverbs 18:24: "Some friends bring ruin to us, but a true friend is more loyal than a brother." True friends should be always treasured, for they are worth more than all the riches of the world and all the time to discover them. It is worth it all.
As Jesus said:
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another." - John 15:11-17
In closing:
May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.Peace be with you, my friends.
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it. Brothers, pray for us, too. - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Quenchless Light
A solitary flame,
Beauty, love the same,
Flickers in the night.
Its strength remains
Even while its wick wanes
And colors dance so bright.
Amid deepening darkness
The flame of yellow grows,
And flickers of light dance
To a silent score of might.
The light cuts the darkness
With an indomitable spirit;
The light conquerors the darkness
With a spirit that gives sight.
Quenchless is this flame...
Darkness has no chance
To win this eternal fight.
Forever burning bright...
Forever giving life...
Forever the quenchless light.
Beauty, love the same,
Flickers in the night.
Its strength remains
Even while its wick wanes
And colors dance so bright.
Amid deepening darkness
The flame of yellow grows,
And flickers of light dance
To a silent score of might.
The light cuts the darkness
With an indomitable spirit;
The light conquerors the darkness
With a spirit that gives sight.
Quenchless is this flame...
Darkness has no chance
To win this eternal fight.
Forever burning bright...
Forever giving life...
Forever the quenchless light.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Divine Mercy
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,The words speak to perseverance in the present. They are a collection of words I need to have heard this very day. The various trials at hand—in mind, in body, and in spirit—test me like gold in fire. I must endure these bouts of desolation mixed with the rays of consolation so that my faith may not be poorly rooted in sandy soil but in soil that is both life-giving and life-protecting. If we are not put through sorrows there is no way we are to know the immense joys in our lives. There cannot be an experience of joy without feeling the sorrow that our earthly lives experience on occasion.
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Although you have not seen him you love him;
even though you do not see him now yet believe in him,
you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
-- 1 Peter 1:3-9
I have felt an indescribable and glorious joy, and daily I must call myself to rejoice in it, no matter what the current dissuasion might be. All earthly things will pass. Current dissuasions bring me away from the Truth before me, from His Will calling me to act in accordance to Him.
What I so definitely know is that these things—all of them—are firmly rooted. I know I must realize that I may be the captain of my own ship on the seas of life but that I am also captain of a ship with sails and therefore am bound to the will of the winds before me. I am no master of the universe, just one sailing amid the currents of this sea. Where I am to go, what I am to do is mine to decide, but I ultimately must realize and accept His Divine Mercy in my life and in my decision making. It does not excuse me from my wrongs, but it empowers to move on, to give more completely, to love more fully.
I see before myself the many great gifts the Lord has bestowed on me and might wish for them to remain with me forever more, but I do realize that I must learn to let go and love with an unattached love. I must be forever grateful for the acts of mercy in my life. Thanks be to God for His mercy. Thanks be to God.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
O Radiant Sun of Piercing Beam
The beauty of last night's Easter Vigil at St. Mary's was amazing, and I felt even before that moving event I had a poem that I had begun weeks ago that I needed to share here. Its opening lines came as I was driving back from Houston from my early vote weekend all the way back in late February, February 24th, and very much of which has been stated here was on my mind.
It was on the drive back that Sunday evening that the opening words came in quiet reflection. I was stuck on the first three stanzas, in various forms and line breaks for these weeks afterward. I even used had a different first line variation, but I knew what the message I wanted to send in putting these words to paper (and here amid the virtual space of this blog). I saw in the dying sun of that day, the beauty contained within—those fingerprints of God over all His creation.
I shared this poem with a friend on Thursday afternoon in a seemingly random encounter, but I know that nothing is of chance. Everything does happen for a reason. Nevertheless, I was at an impasse towards the end of the poem in the fifth stanza. I knew what I wanted to say but could not reach for it. It was when the next two stanzas came to me after she had given me a greater peace to move forward. Most especially among these the lines were the following:
It was on the drive back that Sunday evening that the opening words came in quiet reflection. I was stuck on the first three stanzas, in various forms and line breaks for these weeks afterward. I even used had a different first line variation, but I knew what the message I wanted to send in putting these words to paper (and here amid the virtual space of this blog). I saw in the dying sun of that day, the beauty contained within—those fingerprints of God over all His creation.
I shared this poem with a friend on Thursday afternoon in a seemingly random encounter, but I know that nothing is of chance. Everything does happen for a reason. Nevertheless, I was at an impasse towards the end of the poem in the fifth stanza. I knew what I wanted to say but could not reach for it. It was when the next two stanzas came to me after she had given me a greater peace to move forward. Most especially among these the lines were the following:
To a love of compassionThe days have not gotten any easier, as challenges do not take a day off—even for Easter—but I wanted to at least leave with you this day these words that I find so moving. Because of the glory found in Him I find peace—a peace not of this world but a peace that is throughout this world evermore because of His dying and rising once more.
Centered on your passion,
To a love that is assuring
And with your glory enduring.
O Radiant Sun of Piercing Beam
O radiant sun of piercing beam,
How far away do thou really seem!
Your colors of orange
And colors of red
Do fill the sky
And so with thee wed
A beauty so mighty,
A beauty so bold,
That no greater beauty
Can ever be told!
Thy warmth, thy brilliance
Are forever transcendent;
Thy majesty, thy greatness
Give the whole world witness
To a love of compassion
Centered on your passion,
To a love that is assuring
And with your glory enduring.
As you set this day,
Like the days before,
I see your greatness
And so must adore.
The further your light descends
The more the reds of dusk blaze
That through your dying this day
You rise the next with glory to stay!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A Week in Review
So the past four days have been quite eventful. The house we've worked on is in the Upper Ninth Ward on the corner of North Roman and Gallier. If you aren't familiar with New Orleans neighborhoods, the Upper Ninth is upriver from the Lower Ninth Ward—one of the harder hit areas of the city—by the Industrial Canal. Both are downriver from the French Quarter, separated by the Faubourg Marigny. The Upper Ninth Ward is also called Bywater. In pre-Katrina days the area wasn't the safest area of the city, especially at night. There was just as much violence, especially gang-related in the Lower Ninth, if not more. However, it is just as dangerous at night now in both as thieves run about trying to steal copper wires and other building supplies from those trying to recover from the storm, even two years plus since its fateful landfall to the east of the city. So are the times in post-Katrina New Orleans, very trying times.
In fact, we heard from our neighbor's contractor (who happens to be a Lutheran pastor as well) that he tasered a person trying to enter our house last night. In short, we had good reason to board up the windows each night after finishing work for the day. The neighbors were friendly nevertheless and our co-volunteers and SAFER people were even nicer.
The work was strenuous at times, tedious at others, and nerve-wracking at others. However, in the end of it was a satisfying work that was both manageable and meaningful at the same time. I can see both Wanda and Dorothea, her mother, better for our work these four days.
Monday was a stressful day because of the evening and some severe miscommunication that briefly ruined a blessed day. It was something that will eventually blow over that didn't affect the rest of the trip but drew me closer to my fellow St. Mary's volunteers.
Tuesday became a day of routines but good routines, nevertheless. We had crawfish in the evening and bonded even closer with our reflection times helping a great deal in this area.
On Wednesday we had the University of Miami (FL) join our house and so this made the accommodations a bit more crowded, but by today things were as such that much was accomplished because of the doubled up teamwork of more hands on deck.
If there were to be one thing learned from this trip is flexibility—flexibility in the Lord's plan—that and there's plenty that you can do with some Sheetrock, screws, and a whole lot of friends who want to give back to the community. Slowly but surely, with every screw in place and piece of Sheetrock hung, the city of New Orleans will return, but we should never lose sight of helping our neighbor in need without reserve.
Today I shared something that I had shared previously with my Texas friends while I was essentially exiled from the city and its culture and day-to-day activities especially the year after the storm. As a friend on the trip reminded during our trip to pick up the crawfish on Tuesday, much has changed in the city no matter how much I wish to think otherwise. Well, what I shared today was a taste of the pre-Katrina mess and an attempt to crystallize the goodness of the city despite all said by its detractors (and there were many who wanted it never to return).
I had not intended it to be a public show, except to my fellow volunteers, but in the end it became a public demonstration of my love for the city. I have all along, especially in word here, wished to note my love for the city of my birth. If I fail to do so, I have forsaken my own blood...this is how deep the consciousness of the city runs for me. It deserves its constructive criticisms—like all things it has its flaws—but I do find myself tied to the city, for better or for worse.
No matter what ends up being of that place of my first consciousness, of that Crescent City on the Mighty Mississippi, I hope that you, my dear reader, understand its intrinsic and priceless value it has for the country. I have tried my hardest to impart not only this to my fellow volunteers this week through my small insights on the city but also the value of its residents past and present—that they are of worth and deserve respect which has been lacking for multiple reasons, especially in the face of the tragedy by all levels of government.
In the words of the poet activist Nikki Giovanni of Virginia Tech on their sad tragedy last year of a different sort:
I wanted to come to the city not as a local but as an outsider to give back without reservation or expectation other than to work—and to work with my whole heart. I am happy for the decision, for a productive Spring Break, for an enriching week, and for the love that shone during this trip...what a week!
Praise be to God!
In fact, we heard from our neighbor's contractor (who happens to be a Lutheran pastor as well) that he tasered a person trying to enter our house last night. In short, we had good reason to board up the windows each night after finishing work for the day. The neighbors were friendly nevertheless and our co-volunteers and SAFER people were even nicer.
The work was strenuous at times, tedious at others, and nerve-wracking at others. However, in the end of it was a satisfying work that was both manageable and meaningful at the same time. I can see both Wanda and Dorothea, her mother, better for our work these four days.
Monday was a stressful day because of the evening and some severe miscommunication that briefly ruined a blessed day. It was something that will eventually blow over that didn't affect the rest of the trip but drew me closer to my fellow St. Mary's volunteers.
Tuesday became a day of routines but good routines, nevertheless. We had crawfish in the evening and bonded even closer with our reflection times helping a great deal in this area.
On Wednesday we had the University of Miami (FL) join our house and so this made the accommodations a bit more crowded, but by today things were as such that much was accomplished because of the doubled up teamwork of more hands on deck.
If there were to be one thing learned from this trip is flexibility—flexibility in the Lord's plan—that and there's plenty that you can do with some Sheetrock, screws, and a whole lot of friends who want to give back to the community. Slowly but surely, with every screw in place and piece of Sheetrock hung, the city of New Orleans will return, but we should never lose sight of helping our neighbor in need without reserve.
Today I shared something that I had shared previously with my Texas friends while I was essentially exiled from the city and its culture and day-to-day activities especially the year after the storm. As a friend on the trip reminded during our trip to pick up the crawfish on Tuesday, much has changed in the city no matter how much I wish to think otherwise. Well, what I shared today was a taste of the pre-Katrina mess and an attempt to crystallize the goodness of the city despite all said by its detractors (and there were many who wanted it never to return).
I had not intended it to be a public show, except to my fellow volunteers, but in the end it became a public demonstration of my love for the city. I have all along, especially in word here, wished to note my love for the city of my birth. If I fail to do so, I have forsaken my own blood...this is how deep the consciousness of the city runs for me. It deserves its constructive criticisms—like all things it has its flaws—but I do find myself tied to the city, for better or for worse.
No matter what ends up being of that place of my first consciousness, of that Crescent City on the Mighty Mississippi, I hope that you, my dear reader, understand its intrinsic and priceless value it has for the country. I have tried my hardest to impart not only this to my fellow volunteers this week through my small insights on the city but also the value of its residents past and present—that they are of worth and deserve respect which has been lacking for multiple reasons, especially in the face of the tragedy by all levels of government.
In the words of the poet activist Nikki Giovanni of Virginia Tech on their sad tragedy last year of a different sort:
"We are Virginia Tech.So too can be said of New Orleans, if not in word but deed these very days. I dare say this approach to mourning has been as such in the city's countless jazz funerals before the storm and since where "we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again." We celebrate life as much as we mourn it and as much as we reflect on it. Much is still to be done for this respective tragedy, and much has been done—but only so much, a drop in the proverbial bucket. We must not rest for we are called to help those in need, in distress, and in torment. We must for if we do not, no one shall. We must.
We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech.
We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.
We are Virginia Tech.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
We are Virginia Tech.
The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech."
I wanted to come to the city not as a local but as an outsider to give back without reservation or expectation other than to work—and to work with my whole heart. I am happy for the decision, for a productive Spring Break, for an enriching week, and for the love that shone during this trip...what a week!
Praise be to God!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Faith in Action
In going into this week, I find myself at a crossroads both personally and within my hometown. How am I to grow? What is most needed is a heart of unattached love. I go thinking back to what I want and what I actually need, but it does all go back to love: Love of God, Love of Neighbor, and Love of Self.
How are we to love God if we do not first love our neighbor? And if we are to love our neighbor then how can we if we do not first love ourselves as unconditionally as God loves us. For we must first know who we are and what we can give before we can give it away.
I hope that on this journey I can learn what it is that is needed to give a fully unconditional love—an unattached love not only to the neighbor in the faces of the citizens of New Orleans but those of the whole world.
What comes to mind is my previously posted poem, Unattached Love, this time with a new meaning— that of a city calling out:
Today started out in a refreshingly hectic sort of way. With the time change I was left in a compromised sleeping situation, but it did turn out in spite of all the circumstances into a joyous morning. I have been trying to paint a picture of what I am searching for and for what I am hoping to improve within myself during this journey of service, of compassion, and of love.
This picture was most clearly crystallized in the Sunday Mass at St. Peter Claver in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans.
If you've never been to New Orleans before or have but don't know much of its history, let me fill you in a bit. The city from its beginnings has been a predominantly Catholic faith-filled community. And its individual communities within have traces of this fact, even its African-American ones. From the city's founding the liturgical calendar has traveled right beside the civil one. This fact is a crucial reason for the resonance of the Mardi Gras celebrations over the years—the true one celebrating the joys of life—in this wonderful city.
What I saw this day at St. Peter Claver was something I've never seen firsthand in all my years in New Orleans before. In hearing the words of the story of Lazarus before the Mass and during the Mass from the Deacon, I knew of those words' resonance to the community and its current situation. These words called for a faith in action. What I saw and heard this morning testified to this and to the Truth. The opening hymn was so incredibly moving for I heard, in the voices of the church's Gospel choir, the trust of the community in the Lord, a trust so fully in the Lord. It mattered not the troubles they have already traversed or have yet to traverse because they are the Lord's and, like Lazarus's family, they trusted in Him to show them the Way: that He is the Resurrection.
We spent the remainder of the day seeing the city as I have seen several times before, but through it all and still now I heard those inspiring and comforting words of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection, and saw Him moving through this dark time for the city to bring it into a bright new day. We cannot do anything with regards to the resurrection of this city because it first begins with Him and through Him there is Life.
How are we to love God if we do not first love our neighbor? And if we are to love our neighbor then how can we if we do not first love ourselves as unconditionally as God loves us. For we must first know who we are and what we can give before we can give it away.
I hope that on this journey I can learn what it is that is needed to give a fully unconditional love—an unattached love not only to the neighbor in the faces of the citizens of New Orleans but those of the whole world.
What comes to mind is my previously posted poem, Unattached Love, this time with a new meaning— that of a city calling out:
There are some nights I wonder
And wish all things were clear
And that my heart didn't ponder
On those I love so dear.
I sit amid the darkness and pray
For the burning silence of my heart,
For a quiet desire that won't go away,
One that has been here from the start.
I close my eyes this night
And pray for the strength
To love with an unattached love,
With a heart that can let go...
When dreams that were once reality
Go aimlessly floating away.
Today started out in a refreshingly hectic sort of way. With the time change I was left in a compromised sleeping situation, but it did turn out in spite of all the circumstances into a joyous morning. I have been trying to paint a picture of what I am searching for and for what I am hoping to improve within myself during this journey of service, of compassion, and of love.
This picture was most clearly crystallized in the Sunday Mass at St. Peter Claver in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans.
If you've never been to New Orleans before or have but don't know much of its history, let me fill you in a bit. The city from its beginnings has been a predominantly Catholic faith-filled community. And its individual communities within have traces of this fact, even its African-American ones. From the city's founding the liturgical calendar has traveled right beside the civil one. This fact is a crucial reason for the resonance of the Mardi Gras celebrations over the years—the true one celebrating the joys of life—in this wonderful city.
What I saw this day at St. Peter Claver was something I've never seen firsthand in all my years in New Orleans before. In hearing the words of the story of Lazarus before the Mass and during the Mass from the Deacon, I knew of those words' resonance to the community and its current situation. These words called for a faith in action. What I saw and heard this morning testified to this and to the Truth. The opening hymn was so incredibly moving for I heard, in the voices of the church's Gospel choir, the trust of the community in the Lord, a trust so fully in the Lord. It mattered not the troubles they have already traversed or have yet to traverse because they are the Lord's and, like Lazarus's family, they trusted in Him to show them the Way: that He is the Resurrection.
We spent the remainder of the day seeing the city as I have seen several times before, but through it all and still now I heard those inspiring and comforting words of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection, and saw Him moving through this dark time for the city to bring it into a bright new day. We cannot do anything with regards to the resurrection of this city because it first begins with Him and through Him there is Life.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Now Begins Our Journey
He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them."
Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
-- Luke 9:1-6
We're driving into the city at this point and much—so very much—is on my mind. However, the above passage came to mind while on the drive from College Station to New Orleans. We are now in town for Spring Break to help the city of my birth, my hometown. We're reaching Loyola University where we're staying, and now visible is the view of Audubon Park across the street at sunset. It's such a beautiful view at this time of day. How have I missed all of it so in these many years that have passed.
We're almost to our home for the week; I know for certain we shall not need to shake the dust from our feet.
Now begins our journey; now begins the time of my life.
Monday, March 03, 2008
"...And I Shall Be Healed..."
There has been much movement this past weekend. In spirit, in demeanor, in love... All things have moved in some facet or form. It's unbelievable to speak to because, number one, I was not expecting it; and number two, I felt it so visibly this weekend.
It was my eleventh Aggie Awakening, tenth as a staffer, since coming to Texas A&M and College Station in the Fall of 2003. And the more I staff the retreat, I notice a growing sweetening sorrow, a joyous feeling of sorrow, a wistful sorrow. I can feel the old dying away. I can see the new coming forth, but there is much hope, and as we know, hope does not disappoint. For hope in the Lord is one of the most powerful things in this world.
Hope is seeing the good with the bad and not rejecting the bad things that do happen in one's life but accepting them and thus carrying on in joyful movement. For we cannot live in the past, the past is gone as soon as we experience the present. We are to live for the future, whatever that may be. Living is something to be embraced and not neglected. For we must have a buoyancy to bring to others in our daily lives, a sentiment of hope, a peaceful hope of joy even in the face of sorrow. For if we live only in sorrow and not the joy of the Lord, we are lost to the world around us, a world full of hope.
I've tried to relate this to my retreaters as best I could that each of these Awakenings are different, distinctly different in how they individually touch each retreater and staffer, but in the same breath the same Spirit is moving within all. It is a magnificent sign of God's grace.
There shall always be sadness on this earth until the end of time, but if we are clothed in the Light, if we are Children of the Light, if we become Light to this darkened world, this world of darkness, do we finally see the face of the Lord, our God. Peace be unto you, the saving peace of Christ Jesus.
It was my eleventh Aggie Awakening, tenth as a staffer, since coming to Texas A&M and College Station in the Fall of 2003. And the more I staff the retreat, I notice a growing sweetening sorrow, a joyous feeling of sorrow, a wistful sorrow. I can feel the old dying away. I can see the new coming forth, but there is much hope, and as we know, hope does not disappoint. For hope in the Lord is one of the most powerful things in this world.
Hope is seeing the good with the bad and not rejecting the bad things that do happen in one's life but accepting them and thus carrying on in joyful movement. For we cannot live in the past, the past is gone as soon as we experience the present. We are to live for the future, whatever that may be. Living is something to be embraced and not neglected. For we must have a buoyancy to bring to others in our daily lives, a sentiment of hope, a peaceful hope of joy even in the face of sorrow. For if we live only in sorrow and not the joy of the Lord, we are lost to the world around us, a world full of hope.
I've tried to relate this to my retreaters as best I could that each of these Awakenings are different, distinctly different in how they individually touch each retreater and staffer, but in the same breath the same Spirit is moving within all. It is a magnificent sign of God's grace.
There shall always be sadness on this earth until the end of time, but if we are clothed in the Light, if we are Children of the Light, if we become Light to this darkened world, this world of darkness, do we finally see the face of the Lord, our God. Peace be unto you, the saving peace of Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Tiger Lily
Burst of beauty,
Petals orange bright.
Life's wonderment
With such vitality.
Life's wonderment,
What stunning attraction:
Enticing, drawing—
All breath now spent.
Stem now bending,
Wavering in the wind,
How do I want to hold her
With passion n'er ending.
Stem so slender,
Stem so verdant;
Petals so bright,
Petals so right.
How can I put up a fight,
With beauty and kindness
Or Passion and fondness
Of Love in such a light?
Petals orange bright.
Life's wonderment
With such vitality.
Life's wonderment,
What stunning attraction:
Enticing, drawing—
All breath now spent.
Stem now bending,
Wavering in the wind,
How do I want to hold her
With passion n'er ending.
Stem so slender,
Stem so verdant;
Petals so bright,
Petals so right.
How can I put up a fight,
With beauty and kindness
Or Passion and fondness
Of Love in such a light?
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Today Is a Very Acceptable Day
So God does make time for you even if you don't plan for it or don't want it. So it was for me this morning trying to get going for a day-long trip. Well, plans change, but it made me realize how much I do love early mornings—if I'm fully awake for them. Dawn is just a great time of the day.
I have bounced a great deal between feeling immense joy and sadness lately. A lot of the troubles have been of my own making. I know when my life on this earth is over the first words I hear from God will be: "John, you've worried too much." And—as if I could argue with God Himself—my response would be: "Because I care. That is why I have worried."
So God has been pushing me to not worry so much. I still care, but my worrying, at best, muddies the waters of my heart or, at the very worst, causes true pain. Today is a very acceptable day for change. Not only to change the worrying I do but also what I do. I've taken these past few days of Lent as a new bond with God...to be even more faithful to Him. The homilies as of late have spoken to me requiring me to look at my relationship with Him a little different. The renewal of our bonds with God is why we have Ash Wednesday and we remember that we are dust and to dust that we return.
I shared with a friend the other day the first reading from Friday's Mass, which I found to be a visible connection with her work as of late. The passage spoke of a new kind of fasting for our days of penance, one specifically human and a very personal one. It is a fasting from selfishness and self-importance.
The passage, which I've included below, almost reads specifically to the work she, the other missionaries, and the Sisters are doing there in Chile right now. The passage below spoke to me of her experience she has shared thus far on her blog, an experience and selfless service that truly amazes me.
If nothing else, the work being done there is one that makes this day a day acceptable to the Lord. But not only this, it provides both her and the people she is coming in contact with these several months an indelible human touch of compassion in both directions, as both in giving and in receiving. It provides for me, too, a modern day example to follow, to further aspire to, and to strive for. I am thankful for having an example of faithfulness to the Lord and an example to help me center more fully on Christ this day.
I have bounced a great deal between feeling immense joy and sadness lately. A lot of the troubles have been of my own making. I know when my life on this earth is over the first words I hear from God will be: "John, you've worried too much." And—as if I could argue with God Himself—my response would be: "Because I care. That is why I have worried."
So God has been pushing me to not worry so much. I still care, but my worrying, at best, muddies the waters of my heart or, at the very worst, causes true pain. Today is a very acceptable day for change. Not only to change the worrying I do but also what I do. I've taken these past few days of Lent as a new bond with God...to be even more faithful to Him. The homilies as of late have spoken to me requiring me to look at my relationship with Him a little different. The renewal of our bonds with God is why we have Ash Wednesday and we remember that we are dust and to dust that we return.
I shared with a friend the other day the first reading from Friday's Mass, which I found to be a visible connection with her work as of late. The passage spoke of a new kind of fasting for our days of penance, one specifically human and a very personal one. It is a fasting from selfishness and self-importance.
The passage, which I've included below, almost reads specifically to the work she, the other missionaries, and the Sisters are doing there in Chile right now. The passage below spoke to me of her experience she has shared thus far on her blog, an experience and selfless service that truly amazes me.
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”
Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!"
-- Isaiah 58:1-9a
If nothing else, the work being done there is one that makes this day a day acceptable to the Lord. But not only this, it provides both her and the people she is coming in contact with these several months an indelible human touch of compassion in both directions, as both in giving and in receiving. It provides for me, too, a modern day example to follow, to further aspire to, and to strive for. I am thankful for having an example of faithfulness to the Lord and an example to help me center more fully on Christ this day.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
An Unattached Love
There are some nights I wonder
And wish all things were clear
And that my heart didn't ponder
On those I love so dear.
I sit amid the darkness and pray
For the burning silence of my heart,
For a quiet desire that won't go away,
One that has been here from the start.
I close my eyes this night
And pray for the strength
To love with an unattached love,
With a heart that can let go...
When dreams that were once reality
Go aimlessly floating away.
And wish all things were clear
And that my heart didn't ponder
On those I love so dear.
I sit amid the darkness and pray
For the burning silence of my heart,
For a quiet desire that won't go away,
One that has been here from the start.
I close my eyes this night
And pray for the strength
To love with an unattached love,
With a heart that can let go...
When dreams that were once reality
Go aimlessly floating away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)