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Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflection
In Lent, as in any season, a poem from Rumi is a welcome reflection
From “A Thirsty Fish” by Rumi
I don’t get tired of you. Don’t grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier.I have a thirsty fish in me
that can never find enough
of what it’s thirsty for!Show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures,
these small containers.All this fantasy
and grief.
Hafiz on Thirst
I Know the Way You Can Get
I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:
Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.
Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.
Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one’s self.
O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:
You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.
You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.
You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.
I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love’s Hands.
That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.
That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!
All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!
– Hafiz
We Celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation
Annunciation by Marie Howe
Even if I don’t see it again—nor ever feel it
I know it is—and that if once it hailed me
it ever does—And so it is myself I want to turn in that direction
not as towards a place, but it was a tilting
within myself,as one turns a mirror to flash the light to where
it isn’t—I was blinded like that—and swam
in what shone at meonly able to endure it by being no one and so
specifically myself I thought I’d die
from being loved like that.
I heard this poem read by the poet on On Being with Krista Tippett, and was very moved. If you would like to hear it, here is the link.
Quenching Our Thirst
Let’s choose today to quench our thirst for the ”good life” we thinks others lead by acknowledging the good that already exists in our lives. We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts.
– Sarah Breathnach
A Lenten Thirst
On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, we read about Moses angrily striking a rock in Horeb when the Israelites had thirst and of the woman of Samaria who asked Jesus for living water. So this week our Lenten reflections are about thirst.
Love shortens time, changes the hours. Love is invincible. Many waters cannot quench it nor the floods drown. The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.
– Victor Hugo
Be a Blessing
When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.
– Joel Osteen
The Mercy of God
The following verses are prayed every morning as the Benedictus at Morning Prayer. And in Lent we are reminded that the Blessing of God is Mercy and Compassion.
In the heartfelt mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those sitting in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.
– Luke 1:78-79
Shakespeare on Blessing and Mercy
Today’s Lenten quote about blessing and mercy comes from Shakespeare.
The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth [the one] that gives and [the one] that takes.
– William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
The Feast of St. Joseph
On the Feast of Saint Joseph it is the custom in some places to bless bread, pastries, and other food and give a large portion of it to the poor. Many parishes have a Saint Joseph’s Table – Italian food is often a favorite for this celebration.
The Fruits of Mercy
Today’s Lenten though is on Mercy from Abraham Lincoln.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
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