Poets & Saints

Proverbs 3:5 (NRSVUE)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,  

and do not rely on your own insight.

I am learning to trust without certainty.

Simone Weil

We do not obtain the most precious gifts  

by going in search of them,  

but by waiting for them.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Psalm 42:7 (NRSVUE)

Deep calls to deep  

at the thunder of your cataracts;  

all your waves and your billows  

have gone over me.

I am learning to stay with the silence.

R. S. Thomas

But the silence in the mind  

is when we live best, within  

listening distance of the silence  

we call God. This is the deep  

calling to deep of the psalm-writer,  

the bottomless ocean.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John 6:68 (NRSVUE)

Simon Peter answered him,  

“Lord, to whom can we go?  

You have the words of eternal life.”

I am learning to stay.

Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  

I do not see the road ahead of me.  

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NRSVUE)

For there is still a vision for the appointed time;  

it speaks of the end and does not lie.  

If it seems to tarry, wait for it;  

it will surely come, it will not delay.

I am learning to wait with trust.

John of the Cross

In order to arrive at what you do not know,  

you must go by a way which you do not know.  

In order to arrive at what you do not possess,  

you must go by a way in which you do not possess.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Isaiah 43:18–19 (NRSVUE)

Do not remember the former things,  

or consider the things of old.  

I am about to do a new thing;  

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  

I will make a way in the wilderness  

and rivers in the desert.

I am learning to make room.

Meister Eckhart

To be empty of all things is to be full of God.  

To be full of all things is to be empty of God.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Psalm 62:8 (NRSVUE)

Trust in him at all times, O people;  

pour out your heart before him;  

God is a refuge for us.

---

I am learning to name what is true.

---

Julian of Norwich

For I saw no wrath in God,  

nor ever shall.  

For our Lord is God, and God is good,  

and goodness is enough to answer for all.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (NRSVUE)

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,  

his mercies never come to an end;  

they are new every morning;  

great is your faithfulness.

---

I am learning to notice what is here.

---

George Herbert

Prayer the Church’s banquet, Angel’s age,  

God’s breath in man returning to his birth,  

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Psalm 131:2 (NRSVUE)

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,  

like a weaned child with its mother;  

my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

---

I am learning to pay attention.

---

Simone Weil, *Waiting for God*

The key to a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention.  

It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Galatians 6:9 (NRSVUE)

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right,  

for we will reap at harvest time,  

if we do not give up.

I am learning to stay with the work.

Benedict of Nursia

Let us set out on this way with the Gospel for our guide,  

that we may deserve to see him who has called us into his kingdom.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke 19:8–9 (NRSVUE)

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,  

“Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor;  

and if I have defrauded anyone of anything,  

I will pay back four times as much.”  

Then Jesus said to him,  

“Today salvation has come to this house.”

I am learning to turn again.

Julian of Norwich

Our Lord does not say, “You shall not be tempted,  

you shall not be troubled,  

you shall not be distressed,”  

but he says, “You shall not be overcome.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.