Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Glendalough... never was grief like thine
I was happy I was asleep when the news was announced from the USA on May 1st... On Dublin time, I have early morning memories of being awakened at dawn by light drifting in, the caw of a faroff bird sounding forelorn that reminded me of the oak tree owl that hooted night after night just before my mother's heart attack. I turned over wanting more sleep in a haze of dreams and past memories. I don't know why I never checked my email that morning when I finally placed feet on the floor and chose to pray as the phone rang and I let it go to voicemail. I didn't hear the news until I stepped into a car and was told.
I said not a word about that day nearly ten years ago when somehow everything changed for me. A soul shattering silently when you are defined by a moment in time that you cannot explain. The echo was with me in a car ride to Glendalough. A most perfect place for a most unperfect bit of news as your mind travels back and you wrestle to stay in the present.
I went to a place of music whispering through the trees and skipping across water rippling in the near quiet. Voices of happy children looking for fairies in the hills. Walking past St. Kevin's Cell and hearing the lyrics pass through me still, "Here might I sing, no story so divine; never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine! This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise, I all my days could gladly spend." And I wondered, if He walked here with me now would He be filled with sorrow?
We can be so wonderful and so terrible both. Do the angels really envy us? I would think not. So in the midst of the colors of life in green and blue in this sacred place of old, I traced footsteps of times past and recollected my life in the presence of new friends. I left the memories on a trail up a hill in Glendalough and will let the divine spirits catch them and keep them for me, I have let them go.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Crucified
This inauguration and this growth are both symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of a crucified Jesus,(5) and are foretold in the words of the Lord referring to His death on the Cross: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself".(6) LG 3
Arms in Surrender by Lynn O’Gorman Latchford
Listening to you as all color drained from the room
exhaling the breath of me.
Eyes stinging from a tortuous life of eighteen years
etched in a stricken face.
Watching you eviscerate a suffering self
until devoid of humiliation.
Raising your arms in surrender seeing the crucified Christ
in your tearing eyes.
Grief pouring from you in an endless stream covering a vast floor.
Words from you lie at my feet feeling them enter my skin
crawling to the heart of me.
Too familiar the refrain of violence echoed from your mouth
as you seek solace.
Wanting comfort from an audience of near apathy save one,
who hears and understands.
Arms aching with the emptiness that exists
wanting to cradle your head in warmth.
Loving you as I do from afar caught between words of comfort and restraint.
Captured by your distress and agony wanting only to soothe you
as you speak on.
This floor of dark suffering, this abyss of horror that strikes terror
into a fractured soul.
Watching you prostrated in this place of unspeakable torment
and abject anguish hoping,
Hoping you see the doors of escape that exist and are there
for throwing open to relief.
You speak of forgiveness of the unforgivable and I can finally breathe routing for you.
The purist of truths emanate from your mouth as you forgive
the evil that can exist in life.
Wondering do you know that seeing love in all, loving everything in everyone
is the key.
Unlocking the secrets to a life of peace and joy
repairing your heart with love.
Stitch a soul worth mending with the colors of life that exist
in unguarded love.
Embrace yourself gently, inhaling kindness, pull it around you as a mantle to evil,
arms in surrender to the Love that draws all things to it.
All things and people are meant to be drawn up into God. It is precisely why out of compassion for His wounded and suffering creatures, He came to us, died on a cross for us. It is why in others' suffering we see Him clearly in their face. He wants us to know He is with us. We are not alone. He has drawn us to Him at our worst moments.
Arms in Surrender by Lynn O’Gorman Latchford
Listening to you as all color drained from the room
exhaling the breath of me.
Eyes stinging from a tortuous life of eighteen years
etched in a stricken face.
Watching you eviscerate a suffering self
until devoid of humiliation.
Raising your arms in surrender seeing the crucified Christ
in your tearing eyes.
Grief pouring from you in an endless stream covering a vast floor.
Words from you lie at my feet feeling them enter my skin
crawling to the heart of me.
Too familiar the refrain of violence echoed from your mouth
as you seek solace.
Wanting comfort from an audience of near apathy save one,
who hears and understands.
Arms aching with the emptiness that exists
wanting to cradle your head in warmth.
Loving you as I do from afar caught between words of comfort and restraint.
Captured by your distress and agony wanting only to soothe you
as you speak on.
This floor of dark suffering, this abyss of horror that strikes terror
into a fractured soul.
Watching you prostrated in this place of unspeakable torment
and abject anguish hoping,
Hoping you see the doors of escape that exist and are there
for throwing open to relief.
You speak of forgiveness of the unforgivable and I can finally breathe routing for you.
The purist of truths emanate from your mouth as you forgive
the evil that can exist in life.
Wondering do you know that seeing love in all, loving everything in everyone
is the key.
Unlocking the secrets to a life of peace and joy
repairing your heart with love.
Stitch a soul worth mending with the colors of life that exist
in unguarded love.
Embrace yourself gently, inhaling kindness, pull it around you as a mantle to evil,
arms in surrender to the Love that draws all things to it.
All things and people are meant to be drawn up into God. It is precisely why out of compassion for His wounded and suffering creatures, He came to us, died on a cross for us. It is why in others' suffering we see Him clearly in their face. He wants us to know He is with us. We are not alone. He has drawn us to Him at our worst moments.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Hospitality of the Heart
Being-the-Other... in Armagh from 12 to 14 April as the young theologians strove to embrace a place of Divine silence and space to reach across divides and listen with the ears of our hearts. We spoke, we listened, we engaged both the mind and the heart of our fellow brothers and sisters. We were evocative, creative and allowed the winds of change to blow silently through our souls and heard much of what happens in the world happens also here in this place, this room of "others," no longer other, but part of us.
We are no longer strangers... and as I sit now in the sunshine at a desk covered with papers and books and utensils of academia as the songs of spring and the breezes of spring and the fragrances of spring drift in through the window... but more importantly, I reflect on the mind of spring within me, as I feel nourished and loved by the presence of each of you - your gifts of self. I will treasure these memories of words spoken, glances met and eyes locked in common recognition that we go to God through each other. We are souls in journey that have proffered heaven's gifts to each other. How beautiful, how lovely, how joyful.
God bless each of you! I pray that courage is always our guide to be open and vulnerable and intimate with the Divine that exists in and for each of us. Hospitality of the heart...
Courage
A soul in journey
must depart,
before life’s favors
can impart.
The joy offered
to bestow,
from heaven’s gifts
to man below.
Embrace a future with
arms aflung,
to hang your silver
star upon.
When destiny meets you
on the path -
welcome the stranger.
Don’t let him pass.
Courage meets
those in flight.
Spread your wings
and welcome
day to night.
We are no longer strangers... and as I sit now in the sunshine at a desk covered with papers and books and utensils of academia as the songs of spring and the breezes of spring and the fragrances of spring drift in through the window... but more importantly, I reflect on the mind of spring within me, as I feel nourished and loved by the presence of each of you - your gifts of self. I will treasure these memories of words spoken, glances met and eyes locked in common recognition that we go to God through each other. We are souls in journey that have proffered heaven's gifts to each other. How beautiful, how lovely, how joyful.
God bless each of you! I pray that courage is always our guide to be open and vulnerable and intimate with the Divine that exists in and for each of us. Hospitality of the heart...
Courage
A soul in journey
must depart,
before life’s favors
can impart.
The joy offered
to bestow,
from heaven’s gifts
to man below.
Embrace a future with
arms aflung,
to hang your silver
star upon.
When destiny meets you
on the path -
welcome the stranger.
Don’t let him pass.
Courage meets
those in flight.
Spread your wings
and welcome
day to night.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
New Monasticism Response to Criticism by Historians
This Blog Post was posted on 2011 5 March at
http://gratefultothedead.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/new-monastic-jonathan-wilson-hartgrove-retells-monastic-history/
in support of Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove's stance on New Monastcism in refutation of a critique by a truly awesome website dedicated to history (and the like) called "Grateful for the Dead." There are many interesting topics to be discussed at this site. So have a look. But I couldn't let the blog post go without comment.
The term “new monasticism” was actually coined by Basil the Great. He wanted to distinguish his monastic foundation which was contemplative and active (service to caring for the poor and ill in local hospitals) from the extreme eremeticism of the Egyptian monastics. Some of his most faithful followers however, rejected this new monasticism for the asceticism displayed by Antony the Great, such as Evagrius Ponticus. It should be noted that the desert monastics followed the Essenes and Therapuetae, those who led a life set apart and of holiness that was an expression of the Levitical Holiness Code to care for the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the resident alien of the communities. What W-H, as well as many “new monastics” are replicating, is this same call to holiness, that is an ancient practice that continuously and dynamically renews itself to be expressed as a soul’s eremetical state of being – that society and institutional churches still fail to heed as a need of its participants. This spiritual calling to live the Gospel of the Mount, which is reconceptualized by Jesus from the Levitical Holiness Code and imparted to his Jewish followers and disciples, continues to be necessary even today. W-H is attempting to reanimate this tradition, as “our neighbor” still continues to be marginalized by ideologically politicized agendas. As the homeless, the poor, the “orphans” of our society continue to be oppressed by society at large, it will be the “monastics” who pick up the pieces of society abandoned to the periphery. And why? The monastic aim, from the Gospel’s time, Basil’s time, Antony’s time throughout history was to cultivate purity of heart. Purity of heart is found by those points of insertion a person wants to make Gospel contact, either with self or those in need. There is a reason why when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist that the heavens opened and it was heard, “This is my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Beloved was not a title, but a command to be love in the world. Purity of heart calls one to be love in the world. Monasticism is the call to be pure of heart and love in the world. New Monasticsm is the echo from the Jordan. Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove heard the call. I think we can all forgive a bit of historical lapse in his work as the aim is not to teach history but to call those to a way of life that is Beloved.
http://gratefultothedead.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/new-monastic-jonathan-wilson-hartgrove-retells-monastic-history/
in support of Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove's stance on New Monastcism in refutation of a critique by a truly awesome website dedicated to history (and the like) called "Grateful for the Dead." There are many interesting topics to be discussed at this site. So have a look. But I couldn't let the blog post go without comment.
The term “new monasticism” was actually coined by Basil the Great. He wanted to distinguish his monastic foundation which was contemplative and active (service to caring for the poor and ill in local hospitals) from the extreme eremeticism of the Egyptian monastics. Some of his most faithful followers however, rejected this new monasticism for the asceticism displayed by Antony the Great, such as Evagrius Ponticus. It should be noted that the desert monastics followed the Essenes and Therapuetae, those who led a life set apart and of holiness that was an expression of the Levitical Holiness Code to care for the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the resident alien of the communities. What W-H, as well as many “new monastics” are replicating, is this same call to holiness, that is an ancient practice that continuously and dynamically renews itself to be expressed as a soul’s eremetical state of being – that society and institutional churches still fail to heed as a need of its participants. This spiritual calling to live the Gospel of the Mount, which is reconceptualized by Jesus from the Levitical Holiness Code and imparted to his Jewish followers and disciples, continues to be necessary even today. W-H is attempting to reanimate this tradition, as “our neighbor” still continues to be marginalized by ideologically politicized agendas. As the homeless, the poor, the “orphans” of our society continue to be oppressed by society at large, it will be the “monastics” who pick up the pieces of society abandoned to the periphery. And why? The monastic aim, from the Gospel’s time, Basil’s time, Antony’s time throughout history was to cultivate purity of heart. Purity of heart is found by those points of insertion a person wants to make Gospel contact, either with self or those in need. There is a reason why when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist that the heavens opened and it was heard, “This is my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Beloved was not a title, but a command to be love in the world. Purity of heart calls one to be love in the world. Monasticism is the call to be pure of heart and love in the world. New Monasticsm is the echo from the Jordan. Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove heard the call. I think we can all forgive a bit of historical lapse in his work as the aim is not to teach history but to call those to a way of life that is Beloved.
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