suffering – The Consolations of Writing

Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 22

Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose,Continue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 22”

Pruning

Against expectation, thisSpartan clipping makes spring flourish more,this cutting back to bones,to bare knobbly knuckles makesgrowth more abundant when it comes.And so we bearthe naked cruelty of these bare days,knowingagainst all experience,trusting againstbarren winter feeling,enduring againstthe buckling in our bones that wants to fall.

Pain (Lent 34)

With (Lent 17)

Lent: The Wait, the Weight 3

Held down by denial, oppressed by oblivion, as torrents break we fancy them a whirlpool. Nothing prepares for this crisis of self, when the spirit, crying, How long, how long? hears instead the call to crawl into the dust and weep. To whom have You dealt thus? Yet no better are we who bear YourContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 3”

Lent: Man of Sorrows 2

My God, my God: head full of wounds, You cry. My God, my God: what rupture in the godhead makes perfect veins now burst? What depth of love plumbs so low that even earth shakes at impact? My God, my God, have mercy. I wound my head and choose these depths; yet, Man of Sorrows,Continue reading “Lent: Man of Sorrows 2”

Lent: Man of Sorrows 1

What fuels my pride is nothing like what You gave up – true God, true man – when you bowed as low as bowing goes, as low as heaven spans. What strikes my face is feather-like beside the spear that pierced Your side; my burdens roll onto the floor beside the death YouContinue reading “Lent: Man of Sorrows 1”

Bursting Dimensions

If you really believe, then the day and the dull of its light won’t confine the dimensions of sight; you may look through the night and see there the promise of Life. Do you really believe? On your way through the frontiers of darkness and time, you may feel all your might leak out intoContinue reading “Bursting Dimensions”