\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 what he said that day): \u00a0\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, \u2018He dug up the treasure, cleaned off the dirt, and carried the treasure away.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018If you want the treasure,\u2019 Gerry told us, \u2018you have to take the whole field, everything in it, what you treasure and 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: (For better, for worse; 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.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This 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 \u00a0Stock. \u00a0Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses. \u00a0That\u2019s especially true with Hopkin\u2019s dense and demanding language.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Post # 2 \u00a0\u201cThe Windhover: \u00a0To Christ our Lord\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I caught this morning morning\u2019s minion, king- Brute beauty and valor and act, oh, air, pride, plume here No wonder of it: \u00a0sh\u00e9er pl\u1ed1d makes plough down sillion <\/p>\n Gerard Manley Hopkins <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wednesday, February 19 \u2013 \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\u00a0 (Mt 13:44) People tell stories and … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2020\/02\/Falson.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\ndom of daylight\u2019s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his
\nriding
\nOf 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,
\nAs 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
\nBuckle! \u00a0And the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
\nTimes told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!<\/p>\n
\nShine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
\nFall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n28 July 1844 \u2013 8 June 1889<\/p>\n