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Poets & Saints
The Long Night
Season 3, Ep. 130
•
Scripture
Lamentations 3:25–26 (NRSV)
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
I will wait with hope through the night.
John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us
“This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself and your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”
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44. When God Feels Silent
05:06||Season 4, Ep. 44Psalm 42:7 (NRSVUE)Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.Refrain I am learning to stay with the silence.Quote R. S. ThomasBut the silence in the mind is when we live best, within listening distance of the silence we call God. This is the deep calling to deep of the psalm-writer, the bottomless ocean.
43. Learning to Stay
05:06||Season 4, Ep. 43Scripture John 6:68 (NRSVUE)Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”Refrain I am learning to stay.Quote Thomas MertonMy Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.
42. Waiting in Readiness
05:11||Season 3, Ep. 42Scripture Habakkuk 2:3 (NRSVUE)For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.Refrain I am learning to wait with trust.Quote John of the CrossIn order to arrive at what you do not know, you must go by a way which you do not know. In order to arrive at what you do not possess, you must go by a way in which you do not possess.
41. MakingRoom
05:06||Season 4, Ep. 41Scripture Isaiah 43:18–19 (NRSVUE)Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.Refrain I am learning to make room.Quote Meister EckhartTo be empty of all things is to be full of God. To be full of all things is to be empty of God.
40. Naming Without Fixing
05:06||Season 3, Ep. 40Scripture Psalm 62:8 (NRSVUE)Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.---Refrain I am learning to name what is true.---Quote Julian of NorwichFor I saw no wrath in God, nor ever shall. For our Lord is God, and God is good, and goodness is enough to answer for all.
39. Noticing What Is There
05:06||Season 3, Ep. 39Scripture Lamentations 3:22–23 (NRSVUE)The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.---Refrain I am learning to notice what is here.---Quote George HerbertPrayer the Church’s banquet, Angel’s age, God’s breath in man returning to his birth, The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage.
38. Slowing the Surface
05:06||Season 3, Ep. 38Scripture Psalm 131:2 (NRSVUE)But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.---Refrain I am learning to pay attention.---Quote Simone Weil, *Waiting for God*The key to a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God.
37. Staying with the Work
05:06||Season 4, Ep. 37Scripture Galatians 6:9 (NRSVUE)So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.Refrain I am learning to stay with the work.Quote Benedict of NursiaLet us set out on this way with the Gospel for our guide, that we may deserve to see him who has called us into his kingdom.
36. Practicing Repentance
05:06||Season 4, Ep. 36Scripture Luke 19:8–9 (NRSVUE)Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”Refrain I am learning to turn again.Quote Julian of NorwichOur Lord does not say, “You shall not be tempted, you shall not be troubled, you shall not be distressed,” but he says, “You shall not be overcome.”