{"id":1729,"date":"2016-02-10T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1729"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:59","slug":"wed-feb-10-with-what-radiant-joy-he-turnsto-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/10\/wed-feb-10-with-what-radiant-joy-he-turnsto-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Wed Feb 10 – “with what radiant joy he turns\tto you”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ash Wednesday, \u00a0 February 10 \u00a0\u201cLent\u201d \u00a0= \u00a0 \u201cSpring”<\/p>\n

Mardi Gras has come and gone, opening the Christian tradition to the season of prayer called \u201cLent.\u201d \u00a0That word has Anglo Saxon roots and means \u201cSpring,\u201d the \u00a0season when, in northern parts of the planet, what had looked dead — frozen earth, leafless trees \u2014 shows new life. \u00a0But gradually. \u00a0 Re-birth takes its time. \u00a0 Lent, a 40 day season of prayer, is less about giving things up (e.g., sweets, beer, other fancy things) and more about keeping watch near new life. \u00a0 Here\u2019s a suggestion for prayer during Lent. \u00a0Choose a little tree that you pass most days, \u00a0one where you can stand close to one of its small branches, say 6 inches away from your nose. \u00a0Stand still and breathe; \u00a0for a few seconds look closely. \u00a0 During Lent\u2019s 40 days stop now and again, be still; \u00a0look closely at the branch. Its buds do not storm into full spring growth like a brass band. \u00a0You hardly notice any change from day to day; but if you wait, new life will show up. \u00a0The Prophet Habakkuk teaches, \u201cFor the vision has its own time, presses on toward fulfillment. \u00a0If it delays, wait for it, for come it will, without fail.\u201d (Hab 2:3). \u00a0At a university committeed to learning by students, staff, and faculty, Lent makes a good short prayer.<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov wrote a\u00a0poem I call one of my \u201ctop 5 lifetime,\u201d though there are many more than 5 of these. \u00a0 Dedicated this morning at the dawn of Lent, to all of us who stake our hopes in learning and teaching and mentoring and challenging. \u00a0 Reading aloud, with pauses, has its own rewards.<\/p>\n

Blessings during these Lenten days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john st sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0<\/strong>Today\u2019s Post \u2013 \u201cThe Poem Rising By Its Own Weight\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The poet is at the disposal of his own night\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Jean Cocteau<\/p>\n

The singing robes fly onto your body and cling there silkily,
\nYou step out on the rope and move unfalteringly across it,
\nAnd seize the fiery knives unscathed and
\nKeep them spinning above you, a fountain
\nOf rhythmic rising, falling, rising
\nFlames,
\nAnd proudly let the chains
\nBe wound about you, ready
\nTo shed them, link by steel link,
\npadlock by padlock\u2013<\/p>\n

but when your graceful
\nconfident shrug and twist drives the metal
\ninto your flesh and the python grip of it tightens
\nand you see rust on the chains and blood in your pores
\nand you roll
\nover and down a steepness into a dark hole
\nand there is not even the sound of mockery in the distant air
\nsomewhere above you where the sky was,
\nno sound but your own breath panting:<\/p>\n

then it is that the miracle
\nwalks in, on his swift feet,
\ndown the precipice straight into the cave,
\nopens the locks,
\nknots of chain fall open,
\ntwists of chain unwind themselves,
\nlinks fall asunder,
\nin seconds there is a heap of scrap-
\nmetal at your ankles, you step free and at once
\nhe turns to go \u2014<\/p>\n

but as you catch at him with a cry,
\nclasping his knees, sobbing your gratitude,
\nwith what radiant joy he turns to you,
\nand raises you to your feet,
\nand strokes your disheveled hair,
\nand holds you,
\nholds you,
\nholds you
\nclose and tenderly before he vanishes.<\/p>\n

The Freeing of the Dust<\/u><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Denise-Levertov\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Levertov\u00a0\u00a0(1923-1997)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ash Wednesday, \u00a0 February 10 \u00a0\u201cLent\u201d \u00a0= \u00a0 \u201cSpring” Mardi Gras has come and gone, opening the Christian tradition to the season of prayer called \u201cLent.\u201d \u00a0That word has Anglo Saxon roots and means \u201cSpring,\u201d the \u00a0season when, in northern … Continue reading →<\/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\/1729"}],"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=1729"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1732,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1729\/revisions\/1732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}