keys locked in the car
the battery slowly dies
…just one of those days.
The BBC International News- Pontifications
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Monthly Archives: August 2009
Beauty bids all things come
to itself (and thus
we call it beauty).
Just so, it gathers
all things trembling
fully to itself.
We speak of it as beauty
since it is
the all-comely,
and also tenders
a compelling glimpse
of Beauty-Beyond-All.
-scott cairs [and st denys]
When I was Saul, and sat among the cloaks,
My eyes were stones, I saw no sight of heaven,
Open to take the spirit of the twisting Stephen.
When I was Saul, and sat among the rocks,
I locked my eyes, and made my brain my tomb,
Sealed with what boulders rolled across my reason!
When I was Saul and walked upon the blazing desert
My road was quiet as a trap.
I feared what word would split high noon with light
And lock my life, and try to drive me mad:
And thus I saw the Voice that struck me dead.
Tie up my breath, and wind me in white sheets of
anguish,
And lay me in my three days’ sepulcher
Until I find my Easter in a vision.
Oh Christ! Give me back my life, go, cross Damascus,
Find my Ananias in that other room:
Command him, as you do, in this my dream;
He knows my locks, and owns my ransom,
Waits for Your word to take his keys and come.
mr merton
In my lowlinesss Thou art my height to Whom i gaze;
In my darkness,
Thou art my dawn for which i long.
May Thy smile shine
In my tears;
O Jesus Conqueror,
Save me.
-st nikolai
In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
I saw the awesome sight of Christ
opening the heavens for me.
And he bent down to me and showed himself to me
with the Father and the Holy Spirit
in the thrice holy light –
a single light in three, and a threefold light in one,
for they are altogether light,
and the three are but one light,.
And he illumined my soul
more radiantly than the sun,
and he lit up my mind,
which had until then been in darkness.
Never before had my mind seen such things.
I was blind, you should know it, and I saw nothing.
That was why this strange wonder
was so astonishing to me,
when Christ, as it were, opened the eye of my mind,
when he gave me sight, as it were,
and it was him that I saw.
He is Light within Light, who appears
to those who contemplate him,
and contemplatives see him in light –
see him, that is, in the light of the Spirit…
And now, as if from far off,
I still see that unseeable beauty,
that unapproachable light, that unbearable glory.
My mind is completely astounded.
I tremble with fear.
Is this a small taste from the abyss,
which like a drop of water
serves to make all water known
in all its qualities and aspects?…
I found him, the One whom I had seen from afar,
the one whom Stephen saw
when the heavens opened,
and later whose vision blinded Paul.
Truly, he was as a fire in the center of my heart.
I was outside myself, broken down, lost to myself,
and unable to bear the unendurable brightness of that glory.
And so, I turned
and fled into the night of the senses.
-st symeon the new
The lord bids us love Him with all our hearts
And all our souls-
But how is it possible to love Him
Whom we have never seen,
And how may we learn
Of this love?
The lord is made known by His effect
On the Soul.
When the lord has visited her,
The soul knows that a dear Guest
Has come and gone,
And she yearns for Him…
And seeks Him…
With tears;
Crying:
“where aren’t Thou, my Light?
Where aren’t Thou my Joy?
Thy trace
Is fragrant in my soul
But Thou art not there
And my Soul yearns
For Thee,
And my heart aches,
And is sad,
And nothing rejoices
Me because I have grieved my Lord
And He hath hidden Himself
From my sight.
I know now, Lord,
Why You utter no answer.
You are yourself
The Answer.
Before Your face
Questions die away.
What other answer would suffice?
-st silouan and mr cs lewis
When no one listens
To the quiet trees
When no one notices
The sun in the pool.
Where no one feels
The first drop of rain
Or sees the last star
Or hails the first morning
Of a giant world
Where peace begins
And rages end:
One bird sits still
Watching the work of God:
One turning leaf,
Two falling blossoms,
Ten circles upon the pond.
One cloud upon the hillside,
Two shadows in the valley
And the light strikes home.
Now dawn commands the capture
Of the tallest fortune,
The surrender
Of no less marvelous prize!
Closer and clearer
Than any wordy master,
Thou inward Stranger
Whom I have never seen,
Deeper and cleaner
Than the clamorous ocean,
Seize up my silence
Hold me in Thy Hand!
Now act is waste
And suffering undone
Laws become prodigals
Limits are torn down
For envy has no property
And passion is none.
Look, the vast
Light stands still
Our cleanest Light is One!
-merton
Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.
-teresa of avila
in a grave they laid thee,
o my life and my Christ:
and the armies of the angels were
amazed,
as they sang the praise of thy submissive love.
who will give me water
for the tears i must weep?
so the maiden wed to God crieth with
loud lament,
that for my sweet Jesus i may rightly mourn.
i am rent with grief,
and my hearrt with woe is crushed and broken,
as i see them slay thee with doom unjust;
so bewailing Him His grieving Mother cried.
dirges at the tomb
goodly joesph sings with nicodemus,
bringing praise to Christ who by men
was slain,
and in song with them are joined the
seraphim.
ev’ry generation
to thy grave comes bringing
Dear Christ, its dirge of praises.
death Himself by thy Death
o my God, hast thou slain
by power of thy Godhead
grant thy Church peace,
and thy flock Salvation,
by thy resurrection.
-st ephraim the syrian
