{"id":3821,"date":"2021-03-23T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2021-03-23T08:52:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T12:52:29","slug":"tuesday-march-23-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2021\/03\/23\/tuesday-march-23-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday – March 23 “Lockdown”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, March 23<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are singing to each other
\nacross the empty squares,
\nkeeping their windows open
\nso that those who are alone\u00a0. . . \u201d<\/p>\n

When I moved to the Colombiere rehab Center in \u00a0February, all 60+ of us Jesuits were in lockdown, a tough slog of mostly isolation \u2014 not only masks and isolated meals off trays in separate rooms, \u00a0but no access to our world-class fitness center: the very constraints Franciscan poet,\u00a0Michael Surufka describes in today\u2019s post.<\/p>\n

Now, these months later, \u201clockdown\u201d can suggest what The Spiritual Exercises, in its Second Week describes as a purposeful remembering of some part of one\u2019s past that wants intimate sensual remembering (i.e., when returning to some event or moment. try to use all five senses to get inside that moment, to \u201cget there\u201d (Sp Ex # 121). I am finding sensual remembering transformative these months. \u00a0Perhaps you will also.<\/p>\n

Have a blest week,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john st sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post: \u201cLockdown\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes there is fear.
\nYes there is isolation.
\nYes there is panic buying.
\nYes there is sickness.
\nYes there is even death.<\/p>\n

But,
\nThey say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
\nYou can hear the birds again.
\nThey say that after just a few weeks of quiet
\nThe sky is no longer thick with fumes
\nBut blue and grey and clear.<\/p>\n

They say that in the streets of Assisi
\nPeople are singing to each other
\nacross the empty squares,
\nkeeping their windows open
\nso that those who are alone
\nmay hear the sounds of family around them.<\/p>\n

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
\nIs offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.<\/p>\n

Today a young woman I know
\nis busy spreading fliers with her number
\nthrough the neighbourhood
\nSo that the elders may have someone to call on.<\/p>\n

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
\nare preparing to welcome
\nand shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
\nAll over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
\nAll over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
\nAll over the world people are waking up to a new reality
\nTo how big we really are.
\nTo how little control we really have.
\nTo what really matters.
\nTo Love.<\/p>\n

So we pray and we remember that
\nYes there is fear.
\nBut there does not have to be hate.
\nYes there is isolation.
\nBut there does not have to be loneliness.
\nYes there is panic buying.
\nBut there does not have to be meanness.
\nYes there is sickness.
\nBut there does not have to be disease of the soul
\nYes there is even death.
\nBut there can always be a rebirth of love.<\/p>\n

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
\nToday, breathe.
\nListen, behind the factory noises of your panic
\nThe birds are singing again
\nThe sky is clearing,
\nSpring is coming,
\nAnd we are always encompassed by Love.<\/p>\n

Open the windows of your soul
\nAnd though you may not be able
\nto touch across the empty square,<\/p>\n

Sing.<\/p>\n

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

Fr. Michael Surufka OFM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, March 23 \u201cPeople are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone\u00a0. . . \u201d When I moved to the Colombiere rehab Center in \u00a0February, all 60+ of us … 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\/3821"}],"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=3821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3823,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions\/3823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}