Category Archives: Devotional

Grace, eight or nine years old

Samuel the priest, leading Israel through a process of repentance and then seeing them defeating their old enemies the Philistines, set up a stone monument where they had been victorious and named it “Ebenezer”, meaning “Stone of Help”, declaring that “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” In the midst of our busy and oftenContinue reading “Grace, eight or nine years old”

Qui Habitat Part 4 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

A father had two sons. One wished his father dead and demanded his inheritance now. And his father gave it to him. Squandering his father’s money, the son found himself starving and, without friends or resources, he returned, tail between his legs, to seek his father’s forgiveness. The father welcomed him back as though heContinue reading “Qui Habitat Part 4 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)”

Prepare Your Hearts (For Sister Emma)

Sometimes my “year of writing liturgically” (see here for more information) leads me to read and write about people with whom I do not immediately feel an affinity. Today’s poem is for Sister Emma Crawford, an Australian Anglican sister whose theology would be, I suspect, much closer to Catholicism than mine is. But her societyContinue reading “Prepare Your Hearts (For Sister Emma)”

Wounded Heart, Open Heart (For John of God, Worker Among Sick and Poor, Spain)

Stop, the priest said. He does not ask you to beat yourself. Your heart is grieved; that is good. Now turn your heart to Him. Leave your prison, he said. They trap you here and scourge you, but You can love those who are scourged. Your heart is wounded; turn your heart, Turn your heartContinue reading “Wounded Heart, Open Heart (For John of God, Worker Among Sick and Poor, Spain)”

On That Day (For Chad, Bishop of Lichfield and Missionary)

For the Lord moves the air, raises the winds, darts lightning, and thunders from heaven, to excite the inhabitants of the earth to fear Him; to put them in mind of the future judgment; to dispel their pride, and vanquish their boldness, by bringing into their thoughts that dreadful time, when the heavens and theContinue reading “On That Day (For Chad, Bishop of Lichfield and Missionary)”

Temple Prayers (For George Herbert)

Today’s poem is for one of my most beloved poets: George Herbert, the seventeenth-century Anglican minister who also wrote poems of breathtaking honesty and beauty. Herbert wrote extensively in Latin, but his English poems were only published after his death when his friend Nicholas Ferrar ignored Herbert’s request to have them all destroyed. I couldn’tContinue reading “Temple Prayers (For George Herbert)”

The Lot (For St Matthias)

St Matthias, the thirteenth apostle, is remembered by the church on Feb 24th. I neglected to write his poem on the day, so here it is, better late than never. For those unfamiliar with his story, you can read about him in Acts 1:15-26, where the remaining eleven apostles (Judas having hanged himself) are givenContinue reading “The Lot (For St Matthias)”

Qui Habitat Part 2 (Second Sunday of Lent)

Today’s poem follows on from my poem of last Sunday, the second of five lenten poems paralleling the Psalms with Jesus’ movement towards the Cross. Today Jesus continues His ministry in the face of the Pharisees’ and Herod’s threats, but pauses for a moment to mourn over Jerusalem’s refusal to trust in Him. The twoContinue reading “Qui Habitat Part 2 (Second Sunday of Lent)”

The Crown (For Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr)

If we please Him in this present world, we shall receive also the future world, according as He has promised that He will raise us again from the dead, and that if we live worthily of Him, “we shall also reign together with Him”, provided only we believe. (Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians) His eighty-sixContinue reading “The Crown (For Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr)”