Aquinas says of scripture that

"the manner of its speech

transcends every science,

because in one and the same sentence,

while it describes a fact,

it reveals a mystery" [i]  
 
 
Thomas Aquinas   (died 1274)
 

[i] “Thomas Aquinas, Part 3: Scripture, Reason and the Being of God”.  Tina Beattie.   theguardian.com. {https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/feb/13/scripture-reason-god-thomas-aquinas }  (accessed December 1, 2021).

 
It always seems unfair
that those who cry and fail and break
receive the wanted item
–  I’ve seen it happen –
     
while I, who say,
“Even what is dearest
you may take away,”
gain strength to lose.
 
I don’t think he meant it that way,
but Christ said,
“To those who have,
it shall be given,
and from those who don’t have,
it shall be taken away.”  [i]  
 
Would that  my fortitude
 had a better attitude
 

[i]  Matthew 13:12-13, Jesus says  –
“To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’  ” 
 

 
Time to eat the Bitter Scroll,   
try to find it sweet  
Time to hear the curse unroll  [i]
across the purest feet  
 
Adversity, adversity –     
how to greet it 
how to praise it 
how to thank it 
how to “eat” it !  [ii]
 
(2010s) 


[i]   Ezekiel 2:9-10  –   “It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me;  in it was a written scroll.  He unrolled it before me; it was covered with writing front and back. Written on it was: Lamentation, wailing, woe!”  

[ii]   Ezekiel 3:3:  –  “Son of man, he said to me, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.”  I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 

 
Bring that cloak… [i]   
for I cross horizons
far from the known
my sense of mission
only thing I own
 
Except for that sturdy
well-made cloak…
so thick and strong
against winds and soak
as I go along
 
When you come
bring that small piece of hearth
and world I knew,
the cost not its worth,
 – and some news of home, too
 
Christ chose us to send
to the ends of the earth
to deliver his word
we are the first
that his Body has heard
 
I will find my Lord
in every face and port
and other cloaks a-plenty
from every man and sort
as I do work at tenting
 
My old cloak will be lost
my spirit spring unbent,
when I reach the end
and I will have spent
all that I can spend 
 
(2000s) 


[i]   2 Timothy 4:13  –  “When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, the papyrus rolls, and especially the parchments .…” 

 
The Dove is a nun,  [i]  
small, thin, old, in habit,  [ii]  
white face, and gray eyes searching
from the lectern reading the Word.
 
The Beloved is a congregation
present and absent
unsorted, excepted by pews
an orderly scramble of minds and ears
 
And the Song is a mystery
hovering in the air
as the Spirit sings to His Body,
“Come to me, my beloved.”
 
(2010s) 
 

[i]   from the lectern reading the Word:  –   Song of Solomon 2:14: 

    “My dove in the clefts of the rock,
      in the secret recesses of the cliff,
      Let me see your face,
      let me hear your voice,
      For your voice is sweet,
      and your face is lovely.”

[ii]  “Religious Habit”.  Wikipedia.org. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_habit}  (accessed December 1, 2021).  –   “In Christian monastic orders the habit … may be a distinctive form of cassock for men, or a distinctive habit and veil for women.”

Following, eyes upon you, Lord,
a tear unseen   
drops before Eternity –
worth departing’s
hundred-fold reward  [i]  
 
Lean down to gather, Lord 
my token
in your bottle  [ii]  
its safety – consolation
till the last page is turned   [iii]  
 
(2010s) 
 

[i]   Matthew 19:29,  Jesus says  –  “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.”

[ii]   Psalm 56: 9  –  “My wanderings you have noted; are my tears not stored in your flask, recorded in your book? ”

[iii]   Revelation 3:5  –   “The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels.”   

 
Glory be to the Father
      and to the Son
               and to the Holy Spirit... [i]
As it never was
      is not now
               and never shall be  –
by my will and understanding

The world since time began
has followed out His plan
 
We cannot say
what Adam should have been
and, ever since someone could do it,
we could not stop one sin ….
 
Where the stars come from
what creatures roam
the twists of man’s history
are not acts we own
 
All the impossible actuals
of the world that we see
and illogical facts that
we would never let be  –
 
How could the One Body  [ii]
be broken apart?
How could the human race
war, heart to heart?
 
If “from Every Thing comes good”
what can we see
in plans turned to nonsense
that hurt you and me?
 
How simple, how true,
how great and how grand,
if God only did
what we wished and planned
 
But, perhaps the All-Knowing
sees what we can’t see  –
seeds of beginnings,
fruit for eternity
 
As it was in the beginning,
is now and shall be
ever Glory to God,
          eternally! 
 
(2010s)

[i]   “Gloria Patri”.  Wikipedia. org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Patri}  {accessed December 1, 2021).  –  “ The Gloria Patri, also known as the Glory Be to the Father or, colloquially, the Glory Be, is a doxology, a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian liturgies.”  

[ii]   “Church as the Mystical Body of Christ”.  Saint Boniface Catholic Church, Faith Formation.  stboniface-lunenburg.org.  {https://stboniface-lunenburg.org/church-as-the-mystical-body-of-christ}  (accessed December 1, 2021):    
“The Mystical Body of Christ is a scriptural image of the Church drawn from the teachings of Christ and Saint Paul that illustrates her unity in Christ, her relationship to him, and the interdependence of her members. ”
(and following explanation) 

 
Most counts ascend in number
because we see what we have
or want to have
We count our things, possessions,
desires and plans,
steps and materials, resources
 
We set a goal, then plan our needs
see if we can acquire and pay –  
reaching for less, if more is too high

                       * - * - *   
Some few counts we make backwards, reducing,
like seconds before the rocket flash,
like months and weeks for dying,
like ballast cast from sinking ship,
think:  sinful Jonah thrown overboard,
or our own faults discarding  –
 
a new way to reach where less is better,
sometimes again we waver back to more
still shaving close the edge of possibility

                       * - * - *   
Christ’s parables spoke of building a tower,
counting higher planned materials
for fear of failing after start  [i]
or king who raised his count of each side’s soldiers,
to choose for battle action:  
struggle or entreat  [ii]
 
Christ illustrates his Way by pointing Up,
but then says  –  for discipleship and following,  [iii]
Abandonment, like death, requires Count Down.
 
(2010s) 
 

[i]   Luke 14:28,  Jesus says  –  “ Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?”

[ii]    Luke 14:31-32,  Jesus continues   –  “ Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?   Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace.”

[iii]   Luke 14:33  –  “In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”