Monday, August 28 \u00a0 \u2013 \u00a0Gerry Stockhausen\u2019s birthday week \u2014 in memory<\/p>\n
People tell stories about what they see, and hear, and touch, and other people listen. \u00a0 This ancient rhythm weaves humans together over centuries. \u00a0 Telling and listening make the world go round. \u00a0 The passage of time sifts words, sorting out the not very good from the good and the very good. \u00a0But in a lifetime of listening, you may find a few sayings so compelling that they remain unforgettable for decades.<\/p>\n
Many of us at the university remember spending time and tears keeping vigil as Gerry Stockhausen, back in early January 2016, labored with his dying in an Omaha hospital room kept company by some of the close women and men of his life. \u00a0After he died, some of Gerry\u2019s soul friends gathered in Omaha, in Milwaukee, and here on campus in Detroit, to anoint him with our love after he had left us too young. \u00a0We told stories about him, sang songs he used to play and sing and lead for worship. \u00a0Once I heard Gerry preach a life-changing homily, suitable for his birthday week (August 27).<\/p>\n
Have a blest day,<\/p>\n
john st sj<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Post \u2013 a treasure in a field<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.\u201d
\n(Matthew 13:44)<\/p>\n
Gerry Stock\u2019s homily, (as I remember it):<\/p>\n
\u201cThe saying tells of a treasure and a field.\u00a0 Parables are not long and they reveal their meaning when you pay attention to the words. \u00a0 This parable does not say, \u201cHe dug up the treasure, cleaned off the dirt, and carried the treasure away.\u201d \u00a0If you want the treasure, Gerry told us, you have to take the whole field, everything in it, what you treasure but also what you wish was not part of the deal. \u00a0It\u2019s that way when you fall in love and decide to commit to each other: \u201cFor better, for worse\u201d; good days and bad days; tenderness and fights; patience and impatience; grief and joy. \u00a0It\u2019s that way, too, when you decide to take on a new job or move to a new city, or commit yourself to a process of reconciliation that invests you more deeply in some real and earthy person or place.\u201d \u00a0This is how I remember what Stock said that one day some years ago. \u00a0I\u2019ve not been the same since.<\/p>\n
p.s. \u00a0 \u00a0One of Gerard Manley Hopkins\u2019 poems comes to mind when I remember Stock on his \u00a0birthday.<\/p>\n
Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses. \u00a0That\u2019s especially true with Hopkin\u2019s dense and demanding poems. \u00a0 His poems open their meaning more after 3 or 4 readings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Windhover: \u00a0To Christ our Lord\u201d<\/p>\n
I caught this morning morning\u2019s minion, king-
\ndom of daylight\u2019s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in
\nhis riding<\/p>\n
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
\nHigh there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
\nIn his ecstasy! \u00a0then off, off forth on swing,<\/p>\n
As a skate\u2019s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl
\nand gliding
\nRebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
\nStirred for a bird,\u2013the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!<\/p>\n
Brute beauty and valor and act, oh, air, pride, plume here
\nBuckle! \u00a0And the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
\nTimes told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!<\/p>\n
No wonder of it: \u00a0sh\u00e9er pl\u1ed1d makes plough down sillion
\nShine, and blue-bleak embers, a my dear,
\nFall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.<\/p>\n
Gerard Manley Hopkins \u00a028 July 1844 \u2013 8 June, 1889<\/p>\n
Monday, August 28 \u00a0 \u2013 \u00a0Gerry Stockhausen\u2019s birthday week \u2014 in memory People tell stories about what they see, and hear, and touch, and other people listen. \u00a0 This ancient rhythm weaves humans together over centuries. \u00a0 Telling and listening … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/11\/GMHopkins.jpg\")
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