The Gospel for Holy Tuesday

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:20-36

Poem 1:

E-go
echo-ing
through the caverns
of self only
re-sona (ting)
an emptiness
dis-stressed by
the inability to see
the ground
where one
must die
in order to stop
the vibrating
that prevents one
from receiving the
other.

Poem 2:

attraction
gives birth to desire
drawing one
to the other;
isolation dies.

Tuesday in Holy Week

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with yo and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 52

On the Oratory of the Monastery

Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer;
and let nothing else be done there or kept there.
When the Work of God is ended,
let all go out in perfect silence,
and let reverence for God be observed,
so that any brother who may wish to pray privately
will not be hindered by another's misconduct.
And at other times also,
if anyone should want to pray by herself,
let him go in simply and pray,
not in a loud voice but with tears and fervor of heart.
He who does not say his prayers in this way, therefore,
shall not be permitted to remain in the oratory
when the Work of God is ended,
lest another be hindered, as we have said.