Poets & Saints

John 14:23 (NRSVUE)  

Jesus answered him,  

“Those who love me will keep my word,  

and my Father will love them,  

and we will come to them  

and make our home with them.”

I belong to God, and God belongs with me.

Jean Vanier  

“To be lonely is to feel unwanted and unloved,  

and when one is lonely,  

the heart cries out,  

‘Where do I belong?’  

God’s answer is not a place—  

but presence.  

Belonging begins  

when we allow ourselves to be loved as we are.”  

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Isaiah 43:1 (NRSVUE)  

But now thus says the Lord,  

he who created you, O Jacob,  

he who formed you, O Israel:  

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;  

I have called you by name, you are mine.

I am known, I am named, I am loved.

Henri Nouwen  

“Long before any human being saw us,  

we are seen by God’s loving eyes.  

Long before anyone heard us cry or laugh,  

we are heard by God who is all ears for us.  

Long before any person spoke to us in this world,  

we are spoken to by the voice of eternal love.  

You are not what others say about you.  

You are God’s beloved.”  

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Genesis 28:16 (NIV)  

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,  

“Surely the Lord is in this place,  

and I was not aware of it.”

God is here in the ordinary.

Mary Oliver, from "Making the House Ready for the Lord"  

“Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed  

but still nothing is as shining as it should be  

for you.  

Nevertheless,  

I am here,  

and I am trying.  

And every now and again,  

something so luminous rises inside me  

I am sure it is you arriving.”  

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1 Corinthians 13:12 (NRSVUE)  

For now we see in a mirror, dimly,  

but then we will see face to face.  

Now I know only in part;  

then I will know fully,  

even as I have been fully known.

I am safe even when I do not understand.

From The Cloud of Unknowing

“God may be loved,  

but not thought.  

He may be grasped  

through love,  

but never through the mind.  

And so, rest in the cloud—  

not with anxiety,  

but with openness.  

Let love lead where reason ends.”  

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Romans 5:3–5 (NIV)  

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,  

because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  

perseverance, character;  

and character, hope.  

And hope does not put us to shame,  

because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts  

through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Hope is rising in me again.

Oscar Romero  

“We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction  

of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.  

Nothing we do is complete,  

but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.  

We are prophets of a future not our own.  

This is what we are about:  

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  

We water seeds already planted,  

knowing that they hold future promise.”

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2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)  

But he said to me,  

“My grace is sufficient for you,  

for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,  

so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God meets me in my weakness.

Brené Brown  

“Vulnerability is not winning or losing.  

It’s having the courage to show up  

when you can’t control the outcome.  

It's the willingness to be seen—  

even when you're not sure how you'll be received.  

That’s where love begins.”  

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Mark 2:3–5 (NIV)  

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man,  

carried by four of them.  

Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd,  

they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it  

and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.  

When Jesus saw their faith,  

he said to the paralyzed man,  

“Son, your sins are forgiven.”

I am healed by love that carries me.

Rumi  

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.  

Help someone’s soul heal.  

Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”  

And when you cannot walk,  

may someone carry you.  

This is how grace moves—  

from hand to hand,  

heart to heart.  

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Romans 12:1 (NRSVUE)  

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,  

by the mercies of God,  

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  

holy and acceptable to God,  

which is your spiritual worship.

My body is held in the love of God.

Cole Arthur Riley, from This Here Flesh  

“Before I knew words for God,  

I knew what it was to feel safe in someone’s arms.  

That was holy.  

And maybe healing  

begins not with fixing what we’ve been told is broken,  

but by naming what has always been sacred—  

even in the ache.”  

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Ecclesiastes 3:1,3 (NRSVUE)  

For everything there is a season,  

and a time for every matter under heaven:  

…a time to heal,  

a time to break down,  

and a time to build up.

I trust God in the in-between.

Pádraig Ó Tuama, from In the Shelter  

“Sometimes healing  

does not look like sunlight breaking through.  

Sometimes it looks like sitting in the dark,  

learning to breathe again,  

not alone.  

Grace does not always shout.  

Often,  

it whispers,  

‘Still here.’”  

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Joshua 1:9 (NIV)  

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,  

for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

I have the courage to be here.

Henri Nouwen  

“Courage is not the absence of fear.  

It is the presence of love.  

It is choosing to live with your heart open  

even when it trembles.  

It is saying yes  

to the gift of this day,  

to the mystery of God,  

and to the sacredness  

of simply being.”  

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