At the beginning God expressed himself.(John 1:1 – J.B. Phillips Translation) The urge to speak, to connect:is it heresy to find this in the Immortal,the all-sufficient? Havingno need of us, and yet He speaks –is Word. And we,the subjects of His sentences,are warmed by the light of His present tense, turningthis way, and that,choosing darknessContinue reading “Logos”
Category Archives: Devotional
Unless I See: After Caravaggio’s “Incredulity of Saint Thomas”
No need to touch the scars; Caravaggio got that detail wrong. The sheer force of His presence made Thomas crumple, doubt ceasing where belief gained life, the parched taste, hesitant like salt, exultant like wine, as loosened lips croaked, My Lord and my God. Yet I am comforted to see both the outstretched hand andContinue reading “Unless I See: After Caravaggio’s “Incredulity of Saint Thomas””
They knew Him too at breakfast
where, on the shore, He hadalready assembled, as a table,prepared for expected guests,a charcoal fire, some fish laid out,and, being himself the bread,a loaf laid for good measure. No need, of course, for the fish they brought.No need, either, for that excess in their boats.To feed seven mouths plus His,that net-bursting horn of plenty was,asContinue reading “They knew Him too at breakfast”
Resurrection Day
Nothing should compare to this:our singularity that, with earthquake force,shakes stones, baffles Rome, turnsthe mourners from the tomb with lightning conviction. And day on day this truth remains,though I have dishes to washand the ever-turning of the presentmakes me more a sullen Peter returning to his net than a Mary, fleeing the dead, for dearContinue reading “Resurrection Day”
Silent Day
“So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”(John 19:42) This in-between space is our home ground:the time after glories and horrors alike,the time before or after sleep –and sometimes, sometimes it is a stretch, sometimes a quest, or a rest.Yet the tomb is crackingContinue reading “Silent Day”
Holy Day
I gospel myself out the door, toddler in tow, schedule awry, trusting the carboot to have what I need, trusting the grace that orchestrates the day while, afluster, I stride across traffic lights in petroleum-fueled step, eager to evade the Good Friday appeal because, this day as per others, I’ve no change to spare. IContinue reading “Holy Day”
If Ye Love Me
So many ways to wash feet: the posture, not the precise nature of the action, matters – poised at ground level, familiar with the dust and grime of the day’s streets, outer garments shed to throw off all show, the creak in the knees accompanying the splash and the mess of the self washing offContinue reading “If Ye Love Me”
The dishes you will always have with you
and the laundry, piled upin crevices and corridors as though to say,“You can hide me, but you cannot do without me.”Toys underfoot and books scattered wideamongst other toddler treasures:a measuring cup, a rooster,a brochure considered la mode beforesome other fancy flitted through the growing mind.Some things are permanent, likedishes, some new –an Amen! after grace.UnsettledContinue reading “The dishes you will always have with you”
The Swelling Year 2019
Dear friends, If you have been hanging around The Consolations of Writing for a while, you might have noticed that I love using the church’s liturgical year as inspiration for my writing. Well, this interest has been going for some years now – six, in fact – and I’ve decided to put together the bestContinue reading “The Swelling Year 2019”
Poema
You create and give; I take and arrange words like atoms, rhythms like pulses and the matter of your cosmos like the setting of a table: an act of grace here, a wilderness feast. You create and I, created, imitate. More, I steward the tones you have embedded in our movements, our speech. I listenContinue reading “Poema”
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