{"id":1741,"date":"2016-02-15T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:58","slug":"feb-15-an-improbable-winter-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/15\/feb-15-an-improbable-winter-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 15 – an improbable winter welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"heading\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday, February 15, \u00a0 \u201cMaking the House Ready for the Lord\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have not posted this Mary Oliver winter poem since 2 years and 4 days ago. \u00a0This gray Monday morning I stood at an East-facing window in the Jesuit Residence out onto the large parking lot watching university employees straggle in, crunch across the snow, and decide on a resting space for the work day. \u00a0Were the snow serious and exquisite, perhaps another poem would have come to mind. \u00a0Today the snow is unassuming and ordinary, work-a-day snow. \u00a0M Oliver\u2019s poem strikes me as work-a-day too. \u00a0 \u201cMaking the House Ready for the Lord\u201d emerges from the depths of winter. \u00a0It\u2019s cold outside,\u201d says the poet,\u00a0\u201cHow deep might the capacity for welcome run? \u00a0Whose house is it anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter won\u2019t last forever. \u00a0 Have a blest day. \u00a0 Read the poem out loud if you can.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0“Making the House Ready for the Lord”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
\nstill nothing is as shining as it should be
\nfor you. Under the sink, for example, is an
\nuproar of mice \u2013 it is the season of their
\nmany children. What shall I do? And under
\nthe eaves
\nand through the walls the squirrels
\nhave gnawed their ragged entrances \u2013 but it is
\nthe season
\nwhen they need shelter, so what shall I do?
\nAnd the raccoon limps into the kitchen and
\nopens the cupboard
\nwhile the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
\nwhat shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
\nin the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
\nup the path to the door. And still I believe
\nyou will
\ncome, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
\nthe sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering
\nsea-goose, know
\nthat really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
\nas I do all morning and afternoon: Come in,
\nCome in.<\/p>\n

Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

p.s.\u00a0When I pulled this February 11, 2014 post off the archive blog, the blog header came along with it, along with a right margin banner. \u00a0 I decided to keep it today; something I\u2019ve never done before. \u00a0The header and banner can remind us readers that since its September 2013 beginning, the Work Day\/Hard Time list has posted 326 poem-posts. \u00a0All searchable looking for an author\u2019s name or any other word at\u00a0https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry<\/a>\u00a0 The most recent post appears at the top. \u00a0 Last April, the university’s IT team began counting visitors and visits. \u00a0As of this morning, the site has received 15,151 visitors browsing about with 42,649 visits.<\/p>\n

\"UDMGreatThings\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, February 15, \u00a0 \u201cMaking the House Ready for the Lord\u201d I have not posted this Mary Oliver winter poem since 2 years and 4 days ago. \u00a0This gray Monday morning I stood at an East-facing window in the Jesuit … 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\/1741"}],"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=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3147,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions\/3147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}