Poets & Saints

Scripture1 Kings 19:12 (NRSVUE)…and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.RefrainI climb down into who I truly am.QuoteCarl Jung, from Letters, vol. 1"My pilgrim's progress has been to climb down a thousand ladders until I could finally reach out a hand of friendship to the little clod of earth that I am."

ScriptureLuke 1:38 (NRSVUE)Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.RefrainThe eternal satisfies what nothing else can.QuoteAugustine, from On Christian Doctrine"A temporal thing is loved before we have it, and it grows worthless when we gain it, for it does not satisfy the soul. But the eternal is more ardently loved the more it is acquired. The soul will find the eternal even more valuable after once tasting it."

ScriptureJames 4:8 (NIV)Come near to God and he will come near to you.RefrainEven now, life is good.QuoteEtty Hillesum, from An Interrupted Life"In spite of everything you always end up with the same conviction: life is good after all, it's not God's fault that things go awry sometimes, the cause lies in ourselves. And that's what stays with me, even now, even when I'm about to be packed off to Poland with my whole family."

ScriptureJohn 10:27 (NIV)My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.RefrainI hearken. God hearkens within me.QuoteEtty Hillesum, from An Interrupted Life"Truly, my life is one long hearkening unto myself and unto others, unto God. And if I say that I hearken, it is really God who hearkens inside me. The most essential and deepest in the other. God to God."

ScriptureGalatians 5:1 (NRSVUE)For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.RefrainLove flows unstoppably toward me.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"Love is constantly creating future possibilities for the good of all concerned — even, and especially, when things go wrong. Love allows and accommodates everything in human experience, both the good and the bad, and nothing else can really do this. Nothing. Love flows unstoppably downward, around every obstacle — like water. Love and water seek not the higher place but always the lower."

ScriptureMatthew 16:16–17 (NIV)Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven."RefrainGod is always more than I can hold.QuotePierre Teilhard de Chardin, from The Divine Milieu"God does not offer Himself to our finite beings as a thing all complete and ready to be embraced. For us, He is eternal discovery and eternal growth. The more we think we understand Him, the more he reveals himself as otherwise. The more we think we hold him, the further He withdraws, drawing us into the depths of himself."