Lord take from thy Servants sad carefulness, and all distrust and give us onely such a proportion of temporal things, as may enable us with comfort to do our duty. (Jeremy Taylor, The Golden Grove) If, he suggested, we thought of each day as being a day of business, we would rise with the firstContinue reading “Punctuation and Breath (For Jeremy Taylor)”
Author Archives: Matthew Pullar
Viva La Via Media!
(An Open Letter to Those Surprisingly Contained in the Anglican Liturgical Year) Dear Sirs and Madams: How are you? We here The undersigned write in reply To your numerous questions why You are contained in the Anglican year. We know you did not really like us; You may have abandoned our polite norms Or offeredContinue reading “Viva La Via Media!”
Sabbath Walk
You took me down, at the first dawn of dusk, To the path full of trees in their wintery still Where my footsteps pulled me to the beckoning end And the smooth-flowing river bid me run. Yet slowly I walked and slowly I thought, Each footstep a breath and each breath a prayer. My feetContinue reading “Sabbath Walk”
Bread in the Springtime Part Three (Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost)
I. Absalom, my son! he cries. Absalom, my son, my son! Would that I had died, not you, O Absalom, my son my son Absalom! My son II. Deal gently with the boy, he said, The father with the son that raged And took his wives and took his bed And wanted now to takeContinue reading “Bread in the Springtime Part Three (Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost)”
The Best We All Can Do (For John Henry Newman)
Thy best has done its best, thy worst its worst: Thy best its best, please God, thy best its best. (Christina Rossetti, “Cardinal Newman”) When near to death, perhaps he saw the veil Lift off from Moses’ face, reveal the shine Which glimmered there, the presence of the Light – The kindly light of truthContinue reading “The Best We All Can Do (For John Henry Newman)”
Garden of the Poor Clares (For Clare of Assisi)
How many hearts have burned, though dead, to hear the truth that they have died amidst their riches, and felt sparks of life fly into their dead hearts when they put to flames their deeds of wealth? How many nobles have thrown down the gauntlet of their wealth and died the death of all theirContinue reading “Garden of the Poor Clares (For Clare of Assisi)”
The Fire and the Treasure: A Rondeau for Laurence of Rome
And then they came to judgment. And he was inquired again of the treasures, and Laurence demanded dilation of three days, and Valerianus granted him on pledge of Hippolitus. And St. Laurence in these three days gathered together poor people, blind and lame, and presented them tofore Decius, in the palace of Salustine, and said:Continue reading “The Fire and the Treasure: A Rondeau for Laurence of Rome”
Silence and a Candle (For Mary Sumner)
All this day O Lord, let me touch as many lives as possible for thee; and every life I touch do thou by thy spirit quicken, whether through the word I speak, the prayer I breathe, or the life I live. Amen (A Prayer of Mary Sumner) God of all generations, all mothers and allContinue reading “Silence and a Candle (For Mary Sumner)”
Dominic and the Inquisitors (For Dominic, Priest and Friar)
If we picture him, as so many do, seated with the red inquisitors, seeking heretics in each closet, proud in righteousness and judgment, we must not silence in memory the man who fought with truth as his sharp weapon and never took a place of power but kept his mouth a flaming torch; or theContinue reading “Dominic and the Inquisitors (For Dominic, Priest and Friar)”
Who Was He? (For the Transfiguration of the Lord)
Who was he, do you think, when he shone there that day, whiter than all the world’s bleach could make him, when we climbed up the mountain and he was ablaze and our hearts were dilated within us? Why was he joined up there, on that stark mountain-top with those prophets, Elijah and Moses, whoContinue reading “Who Was He? (For the Transfiguration of the Lord)”
The Consolations of Writing 