Gifted with These Bodies – Aug. 22, 2022
“We have not been burdened with this world and this flesh in order that we might weasel our way out. Rather, we have been gifted with this world and these bodies because this is where God dwells. All flesh is holy, and the ground of all human endeavors is sacred. It is in these bodies […]
In the Beginning
In the quiet of this morning I recall the prayer and gestures of the priest as he stands ready at the lectern before reading a gospel narrative each week. I make the sign of the cross on my forehead and say, dear God, may your Word be upon my mind; and then the gesture again […]
How Can This Be? – Dec. 22, 2021
She had been a child who played, ate, sleptlike any other child – but unlike others,wept only for pity, laughedin joy not triumph.Compassion and intelligencefused in her, indivisible. Called to a destiny more momentousthan any in all of Time,she did not quail,only askeda simple, ‘How can this be?’and gravely, courteously,took to heart the angel’s reply,perceiving instantlythe […]
Annunciation
by Denise Levertov We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, almost always a lectern, a book; alwaysthe tall lily.Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,whom she acknowledges, a guest. But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentionscourage.The engendering Spiritdid not enter her without consent.God waited. She was […]