Wednesday Oct 15 – “The works I have in hand
I will finish afterwards.”
I’m in the Philly airport, which was very new when I lived here as a grad student in the 1970s. They’ve kept up with its aging process pretty well though and, when something takes me here I feel immediately at home — the south Philly accent especially. I just finished 2.5 days with my peer Mission & Identity officers from the Conference of Mercy Higher Education, and I’m heading up to Connecticut for my annual retreat. Unless I am smitten with some flash of beauty for a post, I’ll follow the guidance of Rabindranath Tagore in his #5 (Gitanjali) & not post until I get home at the end of next week.
Have good days. Best to read the poem out loud, a couple times.
john st sj
Today’s Post
I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by thy side,
The works that I have in hand
I will finish afterwards.
Away from the sight of thy face
my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil
in a shoreless sea of toil.
Now is the time to sit quiet,
face to face with thee
and to sing dedication of life
in this silent and overflowing leisure.
Tagore 5