A Poem: lifted into light

the sun shone
through the window
whitening the sheets
as she laid
in her bed
having now been
moved out
of ICU;

her mother was
with her
she said she
was looking forward
to going home this
weekend;

eagerly she anticipates
her wellness,
grateful to be live
she asked for
a prayer.

The Lost Vision

I had no religion. I was taken to church weekly as a child, and at school attended chapel daily, but, as though in compensation, form the time I went to my public school I was excused church in the holidays. The view implicit in my education was that the basic narrative of Christianity had long been exposed as a myth, and that opinion was now divided as to whether its ethical teaching was of present value, a division in which the main weight went against it; religion was a hobby which some people professed and others did not; at the best it was slightly ornamental, at the worst it was the province of "complexes" and "inhibitions" -- catchwords of the decade - and of the intolerance, hypocrisy, and sheer stupidity attributed to it for centuries. No one has ever suggested to me that these quaint observances expressed a coherent, philosophic system and intransigeant historical claims; nor, had they done so, would I have been much interested.

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

Rarely Heard! (Revised)

At one time, we engaged in great conversations around the issues of poverty. At the heart of those discussions were our concerns for the homeless and those who lived in substandard housing; those who suffered from HIV/AIDS; and the hungry. These conversations involved us in Habitat for Humanity, the AIDS Ministry, a weekly communal meal at the parish, and a food pantry. Those conversations have now moved outside this faith community.

Why now are we silent? Why have we forgotten the poor? Why now aren't we filling every moment with conversation about what needs to be done in our day and time? Why have we allowed apathy and the status quo sneak into our faith vision?

How do we awaken from our indifference? How do we reclaim our discipleship? What are the ways in which we may support one another in our ministries? What is the true focus of our lives?

The Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles

Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns and with you and the Holy Spirit, one god, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 73

On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule

Now we have written this Rule
in order that by its observance in monasteries
we may show that we have attained some degree of virtue
and the rudiments of the religious life.

But for those who would hasten to the perfection of that life
there are the teaching of the holy Fathers,
the observance of which leads to the height of perfection.
For what page or what utterance
of the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments
is not a most unerring rule for human life?
Or what book of the holy Catholic Fathers
does not loudly proclaim
how we may come by a straight course to our Creator?
Then the Conferences and the Institutes
and the Lives of the Fathers,
as also the Rule of our holy Father Basil --
what else are they but tools of virtue
for right-living and obedient monks?
But for us who are lazy and ill-living and negligent
they are a source of shame and confusion.

Whoever you are, therefore,
who are hastening to the heavenly homeland,
fulfill with the help of Christ
this minimum Rule which we have written for beginners;
and then at length under God's protection
you will attain to the loftier heights of doctrine and virtue
which we have mentioned above.