Driving out devils

Devils can be driven out of the heart
by the touch of a hand on a hand,
or a mouth on a mouth.

         Tennessee Williams, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

A morning of grace

I thought that it was strange to assume
that it was abnormal for anyone
to be forever asking questions
about the nature of the universe,
about what the human condition really was,
my condition,
what I was doing here,
if there was really something to do.
It seemed to me on the contrary
that it was abnormal for people
not to think about it,
for them to allow themselves to live,
as it were, unconsciously.
Perhaps it's because everyone,
all the others,
are convinced in some unformulated, irrational way
that one day everything will be made clear.
Perhaps there will be a morning of grace for humanity.
Perhaps there will be a morning of grace for me. 

                   Eugene Ionesco, The Hermit

Poem: Opening/Overtures

When each of your days
becomes holy to you,

when each of your hours
becomes holy to you,

when each of your moments
becomes holy to you,

when the earth and you,
space and you,
shall carry the holy
throughout your days

then you will be
in the fields of glory.

        Eugene Guillervic, translated by Denise Levertov

 

 

 

 

 

Resurrection

The word "resurrection" has for many people the connotation
of dead bodies leaving their graves or other fanciful images.
But resurrection means the victory of the New state of things,
the New Being born out of the death of the Old.
Resurrection is not an event that might happen in some remote future,
but it is the power of the New Being to create life out of death,
here and now, today and tomorrow.

                         Paul Tillich, The New Being

 

 

 

 

Can these bones live?

The Eternal had a hold on me, and I couldn’t escape it.
The divine wind of the Eternal One picked me up
and set me down in the middle of the valley,
but this time it was full of bones.
God led me through the bones.
There were piles of bones everywhere in the valley—
dry bones left unburied.

Eternal One: "Son of man, do you think these bones can live?"

Ezekiel: "Eternal Lord, certainly You know the answer better than I do."

Eternal One: "Actually, I do. Prophesy to these bones.
Tell them to listen to what the Eternal Lord says to them:
'Dry bones, I will breathe breath into you, and you will come alive.
I will attach muscles and tendons to you,
cause flesh to grow over them, and cover you with skin.
I will breathe breath into you, and you will come alive.
After this happens, you will know that I am the Eternal.'"

                      Ezekiel 37:1-6, The Voice Bible translation

Dry Bones in the Valley sermon by C. L. Franklin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERGhtz8hv8

 

 

 

Generosity

Taking pain to remove the pain of others
is the true essence of generosity.

         Abu Bakr, Abdul Jaleel Qureshi

Poem: i dream of rivers

i dream of rivers now,
rivers in the night flowing,
starlight reflected in them--
i dream of rivers
and i dream my death
floating in some lost inlet
under trees, face lifted skyward,
moved by the waters.

the face is that of a man
who has arrived at certain conclusions,
is no longer afraid,
the face of a man who understands
what part beauty plays
and what part silence,
a man who is not afraid to decide
and who does not hesitate to revise.

i dream of rivers
and my imminent demise

               Albert Huffstickler