Poets & Saints

Luke 24:30–31 (NRSVUE, abridged)  

When he was at the table with them,  

he took bread, blessed and broke it,  

and gave it to them.  

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…  

and he vanished from their sight.

My eyes are opening.

Emily Dickinson  

“The Soul should always stand ajar,  

That if the Heaven inquire,  

He will not be obliged to wait,  

Or shy of troubling her.  

Depart, before the Host has slid  

The bolt unto the Door—  

Then will the Soul return her trust  

Without distrust or more.”

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

Exodus 3:1–6 (NRSVUE)  

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian;  

he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush;  

he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  

Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight,  

and see why the bush is not burned up.”  

When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,  

God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”  

And he said, “Here I am.”

I am learning to see.

William Blake, from *Auguries of Innocence* (c. 1803)

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand  

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,  

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand  

And Eternity in an hour.  

A Robin Red breast in a Cage  

Puts all Heaven in a Rage.”

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

Isaiah 60:1–2 (NRSVUE)  

Arise, shine; for your light has come,  

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  

For darkness shall cover the earth,  

and thick darkness the peoples;  

but the Lord will arise upon you,  

and his glory will appear over you.

God’s light meets me where I am.

Charles Wesley

“Christ, whose glory fills the skies,  

Christ, the true, the only Light,  

Sun of Righteousness, arise,  

Triumph o’er the shades of night;  

Day-spring from on high, be near;  

Day-star, in my heart appear.”

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

Micah 6:8 (NRSVUE)  

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;  

and what does the Lord require of you  

but to do justice, and to love kindness,  

and to walk humbly with your God?

What I offer is enough.

Dorothy Day

“We cannot love God  

unless we love each other,  

and to love we must know each other.  

We know Him in the breaking of bread,  

and we are not alone anymore.  

He has given us each other.”

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 begin again in grace.

Henri Nouwen, from *The Return of the Prodigal Son*  

“Returning is not a one-time event.  

It is a long and painful process.  

It is the continuous choice  

to trust that there will be a homecoming,  

even when you feel lost.  

The movement of returning  

is not a straight line.  

It is a series of small choices,  

often made in weakness,  

to step toward love again and again.  

The great gift of God  

is that we are always welcomed home.  

No matter how far we have wandered,  

no matter how often we have failed,  

the arms of mercy remain open.”

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

Proverbs 16:9 (NRSVUE)  

The human mind plans the way,  

but the Lord directs the steps.

I set my heart toward love.

Howard Thurman 

“Don’t ask what the world needs.  

Ask what makes you come alive,  

and go do it.  

Because what the world needs  

is people who have come alive.”

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

Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)  

“Be still, and know that I am God!  

I am exalted among the nations,  

I am exalted in the earth.”

This moment is where God meets me.

Brother Lawrence

“We can do little things for God;  

I turn the cake that is frying on the pan  

for love of Him,  

and that done,  

if there is nothing else to call me,  

I prostrate myself in worship  

before Him who has given me grace to work.”

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 release what no longer gives life.

Thomas Merton

“To let go does not mean to get rid of.  

To let go means to let be.  

When we let be with compassion,  

things come and go on their own.”

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

Colossians 1:27 (NRSVUE)  

Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ lives in me.

Richard Rohr  

“The Christ Mystery  

is not something to admire from a distance.  

It is something to participate in.  

God has chosen to dwell  

not merely among us,  

but within us—  

so that divine love  

might continue to take flesh  

in the world.”

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

Matthew 1:23 (NRSVUE)  

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,  

and they shall name him Emmanuel,”  

which means, “God is with us.”

God is with us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from *God Is in the Manger*  

“God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings.  

God marches right in.  

God chooses people as his instruments  

and performs wonders where one would least expect them.  

God is near us—  

in the midst of our lives.”

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