{"id":2995,"date":"2019-04-15T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2995"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:43:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:43:30","slug":"april-15-monday-of-holy-week-remembering-connie-de-biase-sj-%e2%80%a0-feb-10-2017-c-615-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/04\/15\/april-15-monday-of-holy-week-remembering-connie-de-biase-sj-%e2%80%a0-feb-10-2017-c-615-pm\/","title":{"rendered":"April 15 – Monday of Holy week – remembering Connie de Biase, sj ( \u2020 Feb 10, 2017, c. 6:15 pm)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday April 15, 2019 –\u00a0\u201ca mutual commitment to noticing\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 4 decades of kinship, Connie de Biase and I shared a mutual commitment to noticing. \u00a0 Now that she\u2019s left us, \u00a0I miss her most on Saturday mornings when driving into center city to buy Avalon Bakery fresh bread for my Jesuit community. \u00a0 \u00a0As I drove home, we would tell stories \u00a0about our inner lives. \u00a0Through Connie\u2019s last year, our talk became more brave and sad as she recognized her growing diminishment and her grief at losing the life in Madison, CT that she loved and lived so gracefully. \u00a0Ignatius calls this kind of story-telling, paying attention to our \u201cinner disturbances\u201d (i.e., both \u00a0consolations and desolation), a commitment to noticing.<\/p>\n

N.B., what follows was\u00a0originally posted January 23, 2017 (c, 2 weeks before Connie died)<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps this Denise Levertov poem came to mind because this last Saturday I flew into JFK, braved Long Island\u2019s expressways with their too tight turns and \u00a0too-narrow lanes, to spend time with my dying soul friend, Sr. Consuela de Biase, csj. \u00a0 Connie has become frail. \u00a0She misses nothing, I gradually realized, but you have to lean in close to hear. \u00a0Worn with fatigue, she whispers, with long pauses to breathe. \u00a0We visited three times \u00a0(c. 90 minutes, \u00a025 minutes, and 5 minutes when we said goodbye before I headed back to JFK early Sunday). \u00a0She let me know that she heard every word even as her life\u2019s energy slipped away. The 40 mile drive on the parkway immersed me in sadness from one of my life\u2019s deepest goodbyes, tender and still. \u00a0The miles and our 3 whispered conversations are of a piece with decades of mutual listening, the fabric of Connie\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Monday of Holy Week, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s poem Denise Levertov writes of an ancient poet whose frail strengths remind me of my friend. \u00a0 This Monday of Holy Week in Detroit, even with its soft morning rain, \u00a0invites me to open a window to read \u201cIn Love\u201d out loud, with pauses. \u00a0No matter where you are as you read today\u2019s post, the Levertov’s language holds a promise of surprise. \u00a0For Christians these days are called \u201cHoly Week.\u201d \u00a0Wherever your soul and imagination locates you in the world, I wish you the poet\u2019s story telling and its sacred place for listening.<\/p>\n

johns sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn Love\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over gin and tonic (an unusual treat) the ancient poet
\nhaltingly \u2014not because mind and memory
\nfalter, but because language, now,
\nweary from so many years
\nof intense partnership,
\ncomes stiffly to her summons,
\nwith unsure footing \u2014
\nrecounts, for the first time in my hearing, each step
\nof that graceful sarabande, her husband\u2019s
\nlast days, last minutes, fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n

She files her belongings freestyle, jumbled
\nin plastic bags \u2014 poems, old letters, ribbons,
\nold socks, an empty picture frame;
\nbut keeps her fifty years of marriage wrapped, flawless,
\nin something we sense and almost see \u2014
\ndiaphanous as those saris one can pass through a wedding ring.<\/p>\n

Denise Levertov \u00a01923 \u2013 1997<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Connie laughing, \u00a0smiling, \u00a0contemplative \u00a0August 2006<\/p>\n

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Monday April 15, 2019 –\u00a0\u201ca mutual commitment to noticing\u201d Over 4 decades of kinship, Connie de Biase and I shared a mutual commitment to noticing. \u00a0 Now that she\u2019s left us, \u00a0I miss her most on Saturday mornings when driving … 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\/2995"}],"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=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions\/2996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}