Proverbs 3:27-34; Psalm 15:2-5; Luke 8:16-18

words of wisdom
flow
for our benefit
proverbs
for life
to hearts
full of fear
of death
and sickness
sorrow and
ignorance
igniting a Light
that cannot be
hidden
or extinguished
for God sees
into our hearts
knowing
our longings
healing
in His time
and wisdom
through our faith
that we may endure

Where is your faith?

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; Psalm 54:3-8; James 3: 16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37, 42-49

our hearts exposed
you read us
and know
our murderous quests
our jealousy and strife
so far from wisdom
we climb over
one another
to test
with revilement
and torture
we quarrel and fight
so far from our hearts
desire
to love
if only
we were to ask rightly
wisdom would come
and uphold our lives
with peace
and mercy
and sympathy
leniency
and kindly deeds
leaving war behind
a child raised up
we welcome the innocence
see this new life
and seek to serve
the love
that has been
freely given

Do we dare ask rightly and enter wisdom?
Do we see the child we are to become?
Do we see the love we are to serve?

1Cor 15:35-37, 42-49; Psalm 56:10-14; Luke 8:4-15

seed sown
within
we are
more
than our body
that perishes
Spirit
that breathes
and guides us
protecting us
from all
that would steal
our soul
and mind
a rich soil
that nourishes us
we set our roots
deeply
into
God’s presence

Are your roots drawn deeply into God’s loving presence?

Eph 4:1-7,11-13 Psalm 19:2-3-5; Matthew 9:9-13

to those
who are lost
in cynicism
and despair
selfishness
or greed
he calls us back
to our unity
our wholeness
in God
and with
each other
to live
worthy
of God’s calling
in gentleness
patience
love
and peace
in awe
of who we are
in God
and with
humility

Are you in awe of who we are?

Luke 7: 36-50

at his feet
we see a path
a way
and put
our faith there
forgiven much
we love much
ever grateful
of the gift
given
and do not
neglect it
absorbed
in God’s word
we act on it
saving ourselves
and those
who will listen

What is the gift you have been given?
How do you use your gift?

1 COR 12:31-13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

1Cor 12:12-14,27-31; Psalm 100:1-5; Luke 7:11-17

from sorrow
and death
we arise
at His command
one body
in Christ
each a gift
received
to give
again
healing
assisting
teaching
interpreting
feeding
a world
in desperate need
with kindness
compassion
and love
we sing
God’s praises
everyday
with a joyful song

What is your gift?

1Cor 11:17-26,33; Psalm 40:7-17; Luke 7: 1-19

one bread
one cup
given to all
not as sacrifice
but as love
beyond
our worthiness
authority
or ability
resting
in God’s generosity
a life
given
as gift
received
as love
we give
as love
from God’s
overflowing cup

What is Christ’s gift to you?

Memorial of Our Lady Of Sorrows
Luke 2:33-55

mother
of sorrows
we see you
at the cross
and enter
your anguish
as we see
the worlds sins
put upon him
contrite
of any
complicity
we turn
ourselves
over to
the love
we see
and enter
your “yes”
where our intention
meets God’s will
and divine love
is born

Where do you go with your sorrow?

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

WHY THIS CROSS?

why this cross
this ornament of human suffering
in comfort and complacency
it can seem quite out of place
yet let one moment of tragedy
need or desperation come and
this cross is no longer a foreign land
but a shelter and home
a passage of power
and transformation–
is it magic–some talisman-
so it would seem
as it is forged in gold
carved in wood and fashioned in beads
strung on necks and molded on rings
held up to recoiling vampires —

yet kneeling
silently
before the cross
I hear
the whispers
and struggle
of the world
as it wrestles with its horror
its daily news
of evil and death
cruelty and selfishness
politics and greed
ideological slaughter
and mass destruction
our grieving and loss
our starvation and calamities–
earths quake and worlds fall
within the cross

we are free to place our burden there
and leave as though it were some receptacle
some garbage pit or scapegoat

yet not for long
for His whispers
and movement and life
are too compelling
He calls
over and over
to visit
this strange
place of death
that leads to Life

entering the suffering
the solitude
the darkness
of his outstretched tomb
we answer his call
to pray
to trust
to stay
until wisdom
whispers
the promise
of new life

how
long is
our suffering-

it is
a moment
of grace—

then there is
no time
at all
no need-
we are completed
resurrected
in His love