One spoke of fire,
another of a story
to guide us on our way.
Together they pondered
the state of the world.
One saw all life
infused with God,
another the vision
of a joyful, abundant life.
Each person, a prophet
with wisdom to share.
Some call it the planet,
some call it Earth.
I call it home.
A place of beauty and belonging,
a place of joy and jubilation,
a place of divine creative energy.
A world of wonder,
where every creature
celebrates its wild and abundant life.
Deep in my heart
lies a great story,
a story that wants to live.
Shelley has a name for it,
so do Beau, Bailey and Josh.
Brian also has a name for it.
Together we raise our voices and say,
“If we are here for anything at all,
it’s to take care of this sacred place,
this land of beauty we call home.”
I want to say today,
our life is always at the beginning,
with the gift of great anticipation.
I heard the prophet say,
“Live always in the now,
cherish each new and present moment.”
May we always listen deeply
for hope and possibilities.
Through the empowerment of others,
make all things new.
May we wander forward into mystery,
arising from apparent contradiction.
Discover a fresh and vibrant view.
May we say thanks to what is not yet here
on the threshold of what is new.
While on this very day we know
tomorrow may never come.
Imagine all creation
flowing into life,
way back from where it all began
up to this ever-present now
There was a time,
before it all began
when there was no religion,
only divinity
and time to reinvent
the ever-present now.
What a day it was
when the heart of the divine
came shining through.
Diaphanous beauty
flowing from the heart of God,
thundering into our awareness.
The problem of two faiths
was healed in the great unfolding,
the emerging cosmic view.
Trust in God.
Trust in Earth.
Trust our new cosmic view.
From all forms of abuse,
deliver us, O Lord.
From violence and discrimination,
deliver us, O Lord.
From pain and desperation,
deliver us, O Lord.
From poverty and neglect,
deliver us, O Lord.
From rejection and despair,
deliver us, O Lord.
From the chains of incarceration,
deliver us, O Lord.
From suffering and misery,
deliver us, O Lord.
From injustice and exploitation,
deliver us, O Lord.
From loneliness and rejection
deliver us, O Lord.
For recovery and celebration,
we give great thanks, O Lord.
For loving moments of the heart,
we give great thanks, O Lord.
For the care and protection
of our common home
we give great thanks, O Lord.
Blessed are the hopeful:
they hold a promise of tomorrow.
Blessed are the courageous:
they embrace the challenge of today.
Blessed are the forgiving:
they are free of the burden of the past.
Blessed are the people of prolonged engagement:
they will create a better world for the children.
Blessed are the disappointed:
they will rise and anticipate a better day.
Blessed are the self-forgetful:
they will engage in a compassionate embrace.
Blessed are the flowers bursting forth in the spring:
they bring beauty to the Earth.
Blessed are the children:
they celebrate spontaneity and new life.
Blessed are the contemplatives:
they embrace the universe as one.
Blessed are the liberators:
they will set all the captives free
Blessed are the creation-centered:
they will appreciate the awesomeness.
Blessed are the engaged mystics:
they will unite the stars with the street.
One of my teachers was Sr. Jose Hobday, OSF. She and her people felt the impact of the so-called discovery doctrine, whereby when the early settlers arrived in America, the land where they settled was considered their own. The result was displacement, reservations, poverty, isolation, and illness.
Indigenous people teach us that this land is not for sale. Earth is our mother, a source of love and beauty. The native way can be understood as poetry without sound, as a loving quest of patience and anticipation. Sr. Jose urged us to be people of a moist heart, to listen, to fast and pray. She often quoted Thomas Merton, who advised us to pay attention to native people if we want to develop an authentic American spirituality. During this week of thanksgiving, we remember Sr. Jose.
Years ago I said
a reluctant goodbye.
A fierce and fruitful time
was washed in the pain of letting go.
I went to the forest to pray
in the silence of the dark night.
I composed new things,
revised what was past.
With the gift of friendship,
we danced a sacred circle,
awakened our souls
and imagined life.
Then one day a message appeared,
an unexpected invitation:
return from exile,
reclaim the interrupted past.
Today from out of exile,
gratefully I pray,
“May I with God’s help
reinvent the past."
They say, “Don’t come back.”
I say, “Thank you, I will.”
They say, “Times are hard.”
I say, “But let’s wait and see.”
Some say, “Revisions don’t matter.”
I say, “Yes they do.”
With gratitude I raise my glass
and say, “Can we be people
of a new tomorrow?”
Listen deeply to your heart
and say, “Now is the time
to begin again.”
Celebrate resurgent hope
bubbling in your soul.
Take up the banner
of new beginnings.
Honor the sanctity
of our fragile human soul.
Feel the surge.
Experience the updraft.
See how each morsel comes alive.
The Four Horsemen were correct.
“If we are here for anything at all,
it is to care for the Earth.”
The words of the balladeer are true.
“It is not far to another’s heart.”
Say thanks to the spark
igniting all life.
Let your spirit speak,
dispel the cobwebs of your soul.
May each new moment
activate and discover
the fire of the cosmos
and your life.
Breathe on the embers
that remain.
Become a fresh flame.
Ignite your life.
There is a vitality,
a source of life,
that bounces up and down
within my trembling soul.
Wake up.
Stay alive.
Hear your heart beat.
Become plasma for the world.
Begin again.
Again and again
touch the tulip,
smell the rose.
Dissolve distractions.
Listen, listen:
Earth speaks
of joy and laughter
Notice sacredness
dance among the stars,
illuminate
the night.
Peer into the great abyss.
Discover there
a great surprise
only you could know.
What a wonderful day it was,
the day Thomas was born.
An auspicious moment
it was.
He walked in the meadow
that day, across the creek.
There, among the lilies,
his great work was born.
He went to a monastery to brood
about the foreboding days ahead.
He studied history, read Teilhard.
His cosmic view expanded.
He told us our lives are
about story and shared dream experience.
Today I join with friends
and remember the day the story was born.
Healing happens.
I feel unction in my soul.
Wonder dances in the sky,
pulsates in every heart and hand.
Our great dominion
lies awake and waits.
Anticipation prances across
the threshold on this defining day.
I ask, “Will we let
oil, blackface and abuse of power
stand in our way
on this defining day?”
Healing happens.
Runners of the woods
have told me so.
Once again, we promise
to do good work
on this holy, happy dancing
defining day.
From dawn to dusk,
night to day,
she swirls across
the ecstatic sky,
peering into
what seems to be
an endless silence
that radiates across
Earth’s awesome soul.
Tears and laughter
fill the air.
Far out,
beyond the wonder of it all,
she responds
to a previously unanswered question:
“In my life I have known great joy.
I have felt deep pain.
These are my credentials.”
From the center
of each of us
bubbles forth a spring.
Wordless wisdom
rises from a place,
I know not where.
Its trembling paragraphs,
sonnets in a hidden voice,
unexpected moments
speak only of love.
Lights turned off,
we are left in the dark.
Our planet is boiling.
Trees are on fire.
“You can’t take it with you,”
I hear people say.
Didn’t see a U-Haul
behind a funeral today.
Again I remember:
this life is too short.
Pack your bags for the journey.
Take nothing. Just pray.
Earth, air, fire and water
flow within
and all around me.
Ancient one,
great spirit of creation,
may your wisdom
and your breath
flow around and through me.
Spirit ancestors,
with your healing presence,
blow where you will,
renew our souls,
transform our sacred home,
that we may rest
in your embrace,
in the softness of your arms.
May on this day
all things be healed.
May all be one again.
Great spirit,
dissolve all twoness,
heal all distance
that dares to separate each one
from the warmth of sacred oneness.
May each grandfather stone
sing to us an opera,
heal our broken hearts,
send a nourishing gift
to all who pray and wait.
Become attentive to our hearts.
Make us one again
at this turning point today.
Now, in autumn 2019,
we awaken to a new moment,
a new time,
a time to end all twoness,
a time to be delivered,
a time of freedom,
when all God’s children
will be set free.
Who is God?
I mean the one
who is invisible,
yet fully alive.
A rainbow
of every living thing
hovers in the far-off sky.
Do you feel
the sacred one now,
wrapped in beauty,
snuggling with you
in a blanket of peace?
Are you not the One
I cannot see,
that river of grace
that trickles through my soul
and declares,
“I am earth,
I am alive,
I am beauty,
I am wonder,
I am the hunger in your heart,
the foundation of all that is.”
May peace flow
like an ocean of grace,
quench our longing souls,
irrigate our parched and thirsty Earth.
May every puppy, cat and tree
be awash in beauty and delight.
May this sacred planet we call home
flourish and thrive.
May each hungry heart be filled.
May we no longer be bystanders.
May we arrest global warming,
bless and sustain the arctic ice.
Today we pray,
may the extinction spasms cease.
We join hands and hearts
together on this Eucharistic day.