Here's a treat from my favorite local poet, Jessica Powers, aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD, in honor of this special Feast Day:
God
is a Strange Lover
God is the strangest of all lovers;
His ways are past explaining.
He sets His heart on a soul: He says to Himself, “Here will I rest my
love.”
But he does not woo her with flowers or jewels or
words that are set to music,
No names endearing, no kindled praise His heart,
direction prove.
His jealousy is an infinite thing, He stalks the
soul with sorrow;
He tramples the bloom; He blots the sun that could
make her vision dim.
He robs and breaks and destroys-there is nothing at
last but her own shame, her own affliction,
And then He comes and there is nothing in the vast
world but Him and her love of Him.
Not till the great rebellions die and her will is
safe in His hands forever
Does He open the door of light and His tenderness
fall,
And then for what is seen in the soul’s virgin
places,
For what is heard in the heart, there is no speech
at all.
God is a strange lover; the story of His love is
most surprising,
There is no proud queen in her cloth of gold; over
and over again.
There is only, deep in the soul, a poor dishelved
woman weeping….
For those who have need of a picture and words: the Magdalen.
And something I've shared before from Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, the founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, and my spiritual father:
To Saint Mary Magdalene
You claimed
the false
until you found
the True;
your beauty
wounded
until Beauty
wounded you,
and plunged your soul
into a spring so sweet
your tears
fell as chaste pearls
at Mercy's
feet.
You claimed
the false
until you found
the True;
your beauty
wounded
until Beauty
wounded you,
and plunged your soul
into a spring so sweet
your tears
fell as chaste pearls
at Mercy's
feet.
These are beautiful Anne!! I find it interesting what all Jesus cured in Mary Magdalene. The poetry "your beauty wounded until Beauty wounded you" is wonderful...Thank you...
ReplyDeleteI love special treats like these :) Thanks, Anne!
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