Poets & Saints

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:13 (NIV)If there is no resurrection of the dead,then not even Christ has been raised.RefrainNothing truly good can die.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"'Resurrection' is another word for change,but particularly positive change —which we tend to see only in the long run.In the short run,it often just looks like death."

ScriptureColossians 3:4 (NIV)When Christ, who is your life, appears,then you also will appear with him in glory.RefrainI am connected, and that is enough.QuoteHenri Nouwen, from Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry"Community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness:'I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.'It's solitude grabbing onto solitude:'I am the beloved; you are the beloved;together we can build a home.'"

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:28 (NIV)When he has done this,then the Son himself will be made subjectto him who put everything under him,so that God may be all in all.RefrainI am caught up in something larger than myself.QuoteThomas Merton, from No Man Is an Island"We do not exist for ourselves alone,and it is only when we are fully convinced of this factthat we begin to love ourselves properlyand thus also love others.What do I mean by loving ourselves properly?I mean, first of all, desiring to live,accepting life as a very great gift and a great good,not because of what it gives us,but because of what it enables us to give to others."

ScriptureJohn 17:21 (NIV)"…that all of them may be one,Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.May they also be in usso that the world may believethat you have sent me."RefrainWe are all in this together.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal ChristWhen we carry our small suffering in solidarity with the one universal longing of all humanity, it helps keep us from self-pity or self-preoccupation. We know that we are all in this together, and it is just as hard for everybody else.

ScriptureColossians 1:24 (NIV)Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you,and I fill up in my fleshwhat is still lackingin regard to Christ's afflictions,for the sake of his body,which is the church.RefrainMy suffering is held within something larger.QuoteEtty Hillesum, from An Interrupted Life"Living and dying, sorrow and joy...it is all as one in me,and I accept it all as one mighty whole...I wish I could live for a long timeso that one day I may know how to explain it...And that is why I must try to livea good and faithful life to my last breath:so that those who come after medo not have to start all over again,need not face the same difficulties.Isn't that doing something for future generations?"

ScriptureEphesians 4:4, 7 (NIV)There is one body and one Spirit,just as you were calledto one hope when you were called.But to each one of usgrace has been givenas Christ apportioned it.RefrainI am because we are.QuoteDesmond Tutu, from Ubuntu: On the Nature of Human Community"A person is a person through other persons.None of us comes into the world fully formed.We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak,or behave as human beingsunless we learned it from other human beings.We need other human beings in order to be human.I am because of other people."

ScripturePhilippians 3:10 (NIV)I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.RefrainI love God as much as I love the person I love the least.QuoteDorothy Day"I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."

ScriptureEphesians 3:8–10 (NIV)8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of Godshould be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realmsRefrainI hold what cannot yet be resolved.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"Following Jesus is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. To allow what God for some reason allows — and uses. And to suffer ever so slightly what God suffers eternally."