Waiting in Mary-darkness

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary,
And on one night when a great star swings free
from its high mooring and walks down the sky
to be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
with hope’s expectance of nativity.

I knew for long she carried me and fed me,
guarded and loved me, though I could not see.
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
someone is hidden in this dark with me.

~"Advent" by Jessica Powers aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.

Can we reach God?

Ave Maria! In anticipation of his visit to Germany, his homeland, this Thursday through Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI recorded a message for German public television. The Holy Father concludes his message,which can be viewed here, with these words:

"Perhaps you will ask me: 'But does God exist? And if he exists, does he care about us? Can we reach him?' It is true of course that we cannot put God on the table, we cannot touch him like a utensil or take him in hand like any object. We must again develop the capacity to perceive God, a capacity that exists in us. We can intuit something of God's grandeur in the grandeur of the cosmos. We can use the world through technology because it is made in a rational manner. In the great rationality of the world we can intuit the creator spirit from which it comes, and in the beauty of creation we can intuit something of the beauty, of the grandeur and also the goodness of God. In the Word of sacred Scriptures we can hear the words of eternal life that do not come merely from men, but that come from him, and in them we hear his voice. And, finally, we glimpse God too in encounters with persons who are touched by him. I am not thinking only of the great ones: from Paul to Francis of Assisi to Mother Teresa; but I am thinking of the many simple people of whom no one speaks. And yet, when we meet them, there emanates something of goodness, sincerity, joy, and we know that God is there and that he touches us too. So, in these days we want to try to return to seeing God, to return to being persons through whom the light of hope might enter the world, a light that comes from God and helps us to live."

Yes, we can reach God!  Nature has always been a very special and particular place where I can stretch out my hand and almost touch His face.  This runs in my family.  It's in my blood and in my sister's as well -- it's part of our being "Dick Mansfield's girls."  I continue to be astonished by the fact that, as Gerard Manley Hopkins so powerfully penned, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God."  With Joseph Mary Plunkett, I too "see His blood upon the rose" and hear His voice in "the thunder and singing of the birds."  For me as for Ralph Waldo Emerson, "beauty is God's handwriting--a wayside sacrament."  Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Renascence" resounds within my own heart, and her glorious exultation is my frequent song: ""God, I can push the grass apart and lay my finger on thy heart"! 

And now, a word from the other Mansfield girl, my big sister Ann L. Krumrein.  No, a thousand words and even more.  Whoever said that one picture is worth a thousand words must have had foreknowledge of Annie's many wonderful gifts and talents.  After crouching in a field for over an hour, "waiting for this moment," she captured this magnificent full Harvest Moon, aka Barley Moon or Corn Moon. 


Full Harvest Moon by Ann L. Krumrein

Thank you, Annie, for sharing your Harvest Moon with us! Thank you, Holy Father, for reminding us that we can intuit the beauty, grandeur and goodness of God in nature.  Most of all, thank you, dear God, for giving us such a beautiful world!  Amen!  Alleluia!

More Angels

Today I am still exulting in the angels. For that matter, I jubilate in them every day, as I do in the Mother of Our Lord and the saints of God. Most of all I rejoice in the Lord, who "has a throne in the secret of my soul" -- Jesus, my God and my All, who lives and reigns for ever and ever! Amen! Alleluia!

I walk in a cloud of angels.
God has a throne in the secret of my soul.
I move, encircled by light,
blinded by glowing faces,
lost and bewildered in the motion of wings,
stricken by music too sublime to bear.
Splendor is everywhere.
God is always enthroned on the cherubim,
circled by seraphim.
Holy, holy, holy,
wave upon wave of endless adoration.
I walk in a cloud of angels that worship Him.

"In a Cloud of Angels" by Jessica Powers aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit

Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

Doxology

God fills my being to the brim
with floods of His immensity.
I drown within a drop of Him
whose sea-bed is infinity.

The Father's will is everywhere
for chart and chance His precept keep.
There are no beaches to His care
nor cliffs to pluck me from His deep.

The Son is never far away from me
for presence is what love compels.
Divinely and incarnately
He draws me where His mercy dwells.

And lo, myself am the abode
of Love, the third of the Triune,
the primal surge and sweep of God
and my eternal claimant soon!

Praise to the Father and the Son
and to the Spirit! May I be,
O Water, Wave, and Tide in One,
Thine animate doxology.

~Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD)

The Visitation Journey

The Visitation Journey

The second bead: scene of the lovely journey
of Lady Mary, on whom artists confer
a blue silk gown, a day pouring out Springtime,
and birds singing and flowers bowing to her.

Rather, I see a girl upon a donkey
and her too held by what was said to mind
how the sky was or if the grass was growing.
I doubt the flowers; I doubt the road was kind.

"Love hurried forth to serve," I read, approving.
But also see, with thoughts blown past her youth,
a girl riding upon a jolting donkey and
riding further and further into the truth.

Jessica Powers

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, be with us as we journey further into the truth. And when the road is not kind, help us to trust, as you did, in the loving-kindness of our God. Amen.

Waiting in Mary-darkness

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary,
And on one night when a great star swings free
from its high mooring and walks down the sky
to be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
with hope’s expectance of nativity.

I knew for long she carried me and fed me,
guarded and loved me, though I could not see.
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
someone is hidden in this dark with me.

"Advent" by Jessica Powers

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, how happy we are to wait with you in your darkness for the coming of your beloved son, Jesus, who is forever the light of the world! Amen.

I walk in a cloud...

I walk in a cloud of angels.
God has a throne in the secret of my soul.
I move, encircled by light,
blinded by glowing faces,
lost and bewildered in the motion of wings,
stricken by music too sublime to bear.
Splendor is everywhere.
God is always enthroned on the cherubim,
circled by seraphim.
Holy, holy, holy,
wave upon wave of endless adoration.
I walk in a cloud of angels that worship Him.

"In a Cloud of Angels "by Jessica Powers, aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.

I have been savoring the poems of Jessica Powers since I discovered her in the late 80s and am always checking the Web for new articles and publications about her. There's not much out there, which makes sense in a way because her poetry says everything. Of course, it's nice to know some of the specific details of her life as well as insights others have garnered into her beautiful, luminous soul. So here are three excellent articles about her that can be found on the Web:

http://www.helpfellowship.org/OCDS%20Lessons/Lesson%2019.htm, a brief biography

http://www.helpfellowship.org/OCDS%20Lessons/Lesson%2018.htm, an article by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

http://www.helpfellowship.org/OCDS%20Lessons/Lesson%2020.htm, an article on her spirituality by Bishop Robert Morneau, who edited the book Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers swith Regina Siegfried