{"id":1155,"date":"2015-01-28T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:52","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:52","slug":"jan-28-even-if-theyre-a-crowd-of-sorrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/01\/28\/jan-28-even-if-theyre-a-crowd-of-sorrows\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan 28  &#8220;Even if they&#8217;re a crowd of sorrows&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Wednesday January 28 \u00a0&#8211; \u00a0 Rumi \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c . . . \u00a0as an unexpected visitor&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jal\u0101l ad-D\u012bn Muhammad R\u016bm\u012b\u00a0\u00a0(\u062c\u0644\u0627\u0644\u200c\u0627\u0644\u062f\u06cc\u0646 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0631\u0648\u0645\u06cc\u200e) \u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Persian_people\">Persian<\/a>\u00a0poet, jurist,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ulama\">Islamic scholar<\/a>, theologian, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sufism\">Sufi<\/a>\u00a0mystic\u00a01207-1273.\u00a0 \u00a0A friend, who reads this list, sent me Rumi\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Guest House.\u201d \u00a0 Her note reminded me that I had managed to post over 200 poems and prayers without inviting Rumi onto the list. \u00a0\u201cThe Guest House\u201d is a good poem to welcome another great poet here.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the middle work day of the last January week. \u00a0Some friends from the east coast have told me stories of blizzards out there. \u00a0Some friends on campus talk about how cold it is. \u00a0A good day for welcoming what comes our way.<br \/>\nBest to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n<p>No post Friday. \u00a0Tomorrow morning we have a half-day retreat \u00a0(3 trustees, 3 faculty, 1 fellow, 8 staff and administrators). \u00a0 When we\u00a0finish with lunch the university\u2019s board of trustees begins the January meeting into Friday. \u00a0 Too tight a fit to contemplate and write. \u00a0Monday I\u2019ll be flying back from the ACCU \u00a0annual\u00a0meeting in DC. \u00a0See you again next Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s Post &#8220;<\/strong>The Guest House\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This being human is a guest house.<br \/>\nEvery morning a new arrival.<\/p>\n<p>A joy, a depression, a meanness,<br \/>\nsome momentary awareness comes<br \/>\nAs an unexpected visitor.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome and entertain them all!<br \/>\nEven if they&#8217;re a crowd of sorrows,<br \/>\nwho violently sweep your house<br \/>\nempty of its furniture,<br \/>\nstill treat each guest honorably.<br \/>\nHe may be clearing you out<br \/>\nfor some new delight.<\/p>\n<p>The dark thought, the shame, the malice,<br \/>\nmeet them at the door laughing,<br \/>\nand invite them in.<\/p>\n<p>Be grateful for whoever comes,<br \/>\nbecause each has been sent<br \/>\nas a guide from beyond.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/01\/Rumi.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1156\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/01\/Rumi.jpg\" alt=\"Rumi\" width=\"138\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday January 28 \u00a0&#8211; \u00a0 Rumi \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c . . . \u00a0as an unexpected visitor&#8221; Jal\u0101l ad-D\u012bn Muhammad R\u016bm\u012b\u00a0\u00a0(\u062c\u0644\u0627\u0644\u200c\u0627\u0644\u062f\u06cc\u0646 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0631\u0648\u0645\u06cc\u200e) \u00a0\u00a0Persian\u00a0poet, jurist,\u00a0Islamic scholar, theologian, and\u00a0Sufi\u00a0mystic\u00a01207-1273.\u00a0 \u00a0A friend, who reads this list, sent me Rumi\u2019s\u00a0\u201cThe Guest House.\u201d \u00a0 Her note &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/01\/28\/jan-28-even-if-theyre-a-crowd-of-sorrows\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}