I've been done in by the beauty;
I've been done in by the truth.
Now there's nothing left but goodness;
Goodness knows that's true in sooth.
Through the door the sunlight breaks,
Lighting up the grass:
"Enter," says the Angel voice,
"Our table's set for Mass."
#413
That Is, The End
Eternity awaits us,
Three seconds from now,
Awaits us all,
And Peaches the Cow;
Chester the Oak
And Farsight the Eagle,
Dimples the Donkey
And Backyard the Beagle.
Peaches stands placid
In the midst of her field;
I tremble in terror
At this megaton yield.
Last night I watched
As the fiery orange sun
Slipped behind trees
For its usual night run.
How could it all
Come into seeming;
When will it leave
With only God being?
I changed "minutes" to "seconds" because, as I was going into the restroom at the Richmond theater last week, a very small, very young lad held the very heavy door for me. I asked him if he was staying in or coming out, as I took over the door. He said "staying in," as his dad and brother were still in there. He immediately reminded me of what was lost in New Town recently, and I thought "three minutes" was too long for this image. I can still see the little boy looking up at me through his big black-rimmed glasses and giving serious thought to the question. Going in I passed his dad coming out; he had heard his son and had a big proud smile on his face. We nodded. Three seconds.
#391
Absolutely
Socially a socialite
Is worth more than a whore.
But in the eyes of God above
There is no measurement for love
While we live at death's door.
#383
I AM
Everything that is
IS because of God
Who sustains its being--
From Angels down to sod,
From earth and fire and crisp cool air,
From flying fish to burning sun,
From water up to outer space--
All hold their being from the One.
#373
Eve Alone
Eve's in the Garden,
A perilous sight;
Adam's not present,
Something's not right.
Her beauty's like sun rays
Cutting through clouds;
Frolicing creatures
Attend her in crowds.
But something's not right,
She's in a blue funk;
If I didn't know better,
I'd blame Blossom the Skunk.
The Serpent is talking,
That's new today;
What in God's Garden
Could he possibly say?
#372
"God Is Dead"
Look around you, what do you see?
The universe is empty space;
Nothing but matter in motion.
This thought makes me a basket case,
Unless of course that ilk is wrong,
And empty Earth's a trysting place,
For God to meet the human race
(And not His final resting place).
All that's missing then is grace
To see the face of God and live.
#361
Backyard Business
Why does the squirrel keep running,
When the dog can't climb the tree?
Why does the dog keep chasing,
When all he can do is see?
There must be joy in the effort
To race round the yard with glee
Always thinking that this time
The squirrel is a goner, you'll see.
God above:
May Simon continue to run with joy;
May the squirrels continue to flee.
#358
The Universe
I don't understand Higgs-Boson;
Particles make my mind churn;
All that I know is God spoke it:
At its heart there is laughter to burn.
#346
Mind The Mystery
His mind's a joyful mystery,
For I see that Someone's there;
Behind the mask of soft brown eyes,
A curious, quizzical stare.
I pat his head with fond delight,
I scratch behind his ears;
I give him furious belly rubs
To calm his thunder fears.
I hold him when the vacuum roars,
I worry about his back;
But what goes on behind those eyes,
No one but God can track.
#315
I Wonder
Are there kumquats in Heaven?
Are there trees with luscious fruit?
Will our bodies be transparent?
Will we even give a hoot
When God is all in all of us
And Love has taken root?
#314
Laughter
I saw a bug of curious design,
Odd proportions, and alien mind:
Back legs like twigs, front legs like thread,
On top of it all, a triangular head;
As if God playing with matter for fun,
Said, "Be, little bug, for laughter you're done."
#313
Simon
Are there dachshunds in Heaven?
I'm sure that I don't know;
But if God is a good God,
Where else would dachshunds go?
#273
Then Again
If all reality exists
Within the mind of God,
Illusions like the movies
Are less meaningful than sod.
#192
This Sparrow
Walking through our new front door,
I saw the wounded Sparrow.
God of course was watching him,
Though staying incognito.
#181
Earthen Vessels
The Resurrection body,
Never weak, nor ill, nor slow;
The Resurrection body,
A joy in which to grow,
A joy to be and know.
The will held perfectly in God,
Sin no more a threat--
The Resurrection body,
For which Christ has paid the debt.
#179
Andy Panda #12
Andy Panda went to Mass,
Though he was a simple ass;
God, however, cherished him,
For God especially loves the dim.
#154
Jane
Standing on the corner,
Waiting for the light,
I see a young man glance at me,
With eye so sweetly bright.
Does he think me pretty?
Will he look again?
One moment of anticipation....
Would God had not made me plain.
#163
Real Presence
Death is all around me,
Thinking he'll be fed,
Sitting on my night stand,
Hovering o'er my head.
I can smell his evil breath,
Full of foul decay;
Funny how his presence
Makes me stop and pray.
God always seems more real to me
When Death unveils his presence;
Though Death himself is preferable
To mindless blank senescence.
This entry goes with earlier thoughts on beauty and art, goodness and truth. In Magnificat's Roman Missal Companion, I came across a brief Editorial by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P., the editor-in-chief of Magnificat, concerning the new translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition. Father Cameron packs a great deal of wisdom into 3 pages: "The way we say things matters. It changes how we think and how we feel. In a world of myriad synonyms, finding 'the right word' remains a considerably more intricate and involved process than one may imagine. It entails hitting upon a certain rhythm and sound that renders a certain special sense. We know it when we hear it."
His concern in the editorial is primarily about the meaning and substance of the new translation, in essence its purpose or final cause. He writes that first "The Church has made a new translation of the Mass in order to give us a more sublime sense of the liturgy"; he uses a passage from philosopher Paul Ricoeur to develop his idea: "'To understand a text is to follow its movement from sense to reference, from what it says to what it talks about.' In other words, good communication happens when the sense--the concrete and intentional phrasing of a text--leads us to something beyond the words: to the reality the words are talking about." Talking like that always gets my attention, especially when his concern is with Mystery.
In the next section he defines a second reason for the new translation: "The Church wants to restore to her worship a heightened sense of the sacred." Here he quotes Wolfhart Pannenberg's article "How to Think about Secularism" (1996). "'The absolutely worst way to respond to the challenge of secularism is to adapt to secular standards in language, thought, and way of life.'" Amen. "'Religion that is "more of the same" is not likely to be very interesting.'" Indeed.
The idea that most delighted me in the editorial occurs after the lengthy quote in a section entitled "Souls Communicating." And here we go: "The Church's response to such secularist trends is to present a new translation of the Mass that is aesthetically rich. For nothing transforms us like beauty. The philosopher Jacques Maritain wrote that 'the moment one touches a transcendental [like the beautiful], one touches being itself, a likeness of God,...that which ennobles and delights our life...Only in this way do [people] escape from the individuality in which matter encloses them...They observe each other without seeing each other, each one of them infinitely alone...But let one touch the good and love the true...the beautiful..., then contact is made, souls communicate."
Father Cameron ends the editorial with a quote from the "Blessed John Paul II": "'Ultimately, the mystery of language brings us back to the inscrutable mystery of God himself."
#114
Orion Nebula
Why would God make
Such a glorious sight,
Bright blazing suns
Lighting dust in our night,
But hiding the glory
Light years from our cries,
Unveiling the beauty
To alien skies?
