Prayer: A Progression

This Jessica Powers poem was found on the Education for Justice website.

Prayer: A Progression

You came by night, harsh with the need of grace,

into the dubious presence of your Maker.

You combed a small and pre-elected acre

for some bright word of Him, or any trace.

Past the great judgment growths of thistle and thorn

and past the thicket of self you bore your yearning

till lo, you saw a pure white blossom burning

in glimmer, then, light, then unimpeded more!

Now the flower God-is-love gives ceaseless glow;

now all your thoughts feast on its mystery,

but when love mounts through knowledge and goes free,

then will the sated thinker arise and go

and brave the deserts of the soul to give

the flower he found to the contemplative.

Source: “Prayer: A Progression” from The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers,edited by Regina Siegfried, ASC, and Robert F. Morneau. Kansas City, MO:Sheed & Ward, 1989

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