Speak to my Heart, a poem by Peter Menkin

Friend:

Let me explain this situation, for the hour of the morning is early. There is darkness, and it is quiet as I continue my work on the new poem. I've been thinking, and wishing, that a new poem would come to me, for it is in the waiting that a premonition can be found for the inspiration of a work. Even a short work like this religious poem that expresses how the Spirit of the Lord is Upon me.

It was earlier in the day, considering that the hour of the morning of the next day is here, so it was really the evening of the day before, that I was telling a friend that the spirit of God came upon the character of the Bible with long, curly hair who said, The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me. His name escaped my friend. But you know who I mean.

Anyway, this Epiphany in the season of Epiphany entered my mind and I became conscious of the words, which wrote themselves. So it seemed. So it seems. It was earlier today I spoke via internet with a new friend about poetry, and the inspiration that contemplation brings. I spoke about the inspiration that comes of taking Communion. I did not say that inspiration also comes of prayer. But he knows things like that, I am sure, for he teaches in College. People who go to Church know things about prayer, that some of those who don't get to do the work of attending worship have missed. Ah, so it is.

The new poem, written in the wee hours of the morning:



By Peter Menkin
January 25, 2010

I have waited on the Lord,
In the stillness of my mind.
In the music of a hymn,
In a conversation with a friend.

It is in the loveliness of a flower,
And the color of the light of day
Lost in a prayer from the prayer book,
I have waited on the Lord.

My friend, it is the pleasure of life,
The knowledge in simplicity of knowing
One another, and even the times that come looming
To the psyche of trials and fears in a tunnel
Where confinement of spirit and mind

Make the soul weep and wonder
That there is comfort in knowing you
Lord. Speak to my heart.

Audio reading of the poem by the poet is here

Gratitude in Joy & Sorrow
A poem by Peter Menkin
August 10, 2009

Gratitude I have--
Had--
This sense of acceptance,
Called giving thanks in a praise.
Of words,
And thoughts for God, Creator
And sustainer—
My gratitude for my preservation,
Bringing me to this new day--
As the Prayer goes.

How kind the thought comes
Of the goodness of God, though
Sorrow is our lot.
As is said, “Human condition.”
Contradiction. For sorrow is the daily sense,
The feeling, the experience, the existential
Day that finds the Other.
In gratitude.


Contradiction. Yes, we are in sorrow
Of the body, of the head, of the experience
Of living that at the same time is joy.
That enveloping experience of emotion—
A happiness that is not happiness.

But the mystery of gratitude for
Joy, sense of kind thought and human condition
And thoughts for God, Creator.
As the Prayer goes in Christ.
We are thankful in living for life, the gift;
In gratitude, in gratitude again
For our Creation.
As the prayer goes in Christ.

Audio reading of poem by poet is here:

Finding Myself in Brethren, in Lent 2000
poem by Peter Menkin

Where my self-forgettingLove is hid,

I know

In my clinging to the Christ,

In the cleft of the rock

I am unto you all hearts

Are open, no secrets hid.

I fathom on in my mortal

Weakness seeking the heart

Again to witness my faith

Knowing you are all--a Word.

New life is granted us, the me

Of being in the following--

The master to the body

that is him, incarnate,

heavenly Church.

Forgive my wretched masks, my

Deceptions, my strengths of

Bone, pride, and many wishes.

Complete me in prayer, and as

A swift arrow, hear me, Lord.

My life; I come.

Seeker & Doubter
poem by Peter Menkin
(revised January 2009)

Water springs
from pools deeply
hidden, refreshing
mortal companionship
with divine
simplicity.

Born, lived under,
died to be given
by the hand of God
a suspenseful dedication
in voice heard with promise:
they will never perish
sweet allowance, forgiveness
immortal. Wondering
may we live in within
your presence, Spirit come.

A revise of a longer version, posted here January 2009 because I like this short form. It says something about the relationship with God. Note the two icons by artist Zalewski taken from the internet. The first is a lovely color and for me is a Kingdom of God and creation image. The second of Christ's Baptism puts a slant on the poem making the waters mentioned in it Baptism. Since this is Epiphany, I decided to add the Baptism of Christ note--the illustration underlines.

But the poem is about waters that spring from abundance. When I first approached the Camaldoli monks, after an invitation, to become a postulant for Oblation I attended a Quiet Day at Incarnation Monastery, Berkeley, CA USA. It was there I talked with one of their order, Camaldoli, Benedictine Monk Father John about becoming a Postulant.

We discussed "The Woman at the Well," and waters of abundance. I must have said some things he thought worthwhile for a candidate, for he accepted me as a Postulant, to my joy! That was sometime in the early 1990s, and now it has been about 15 years as an Oblate, with prior to that a year of Postulancy. I am a Contemplative, or working at it, with faith in Christ and belief in the Trinity.



St. Romuald's Brief Rule For Camaldolese Monks

Sit in your cell as in paradise.
Put the whole world behind you and forget it.
Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish,
The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.

If you have just come to the monastery,
and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want,
take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart
and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up;
hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God's presence,
and stand there with the attitude of one who stands
before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting,
content with the grace of God,
like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing
but what his mother brings him.



Last two images are from (1) Immaculate Heart Hermitage, Big Sur, CA USA, and (2) Incarnation Monastery, Berkely, CA USA.

Hossanah in the Highest
a poem about Palm Sunday
at Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal)
Mill Valley, CA USA
by Peter Menkin


This morning we spoke
in premonitions
about children leading
worship. We waited together.

Yesterday there was
bright blue white lightning
flash, and the thunder.
Light rain broke in.

God speaks in the thunder;
I could not make out
what he said. So subtle.

Children led
the worship service
at another Church,
a man and wife said.

Today at ours they gave out
palms, and walked
among us

after blessing them,
arms stretched out
hands above the palms
during the blessing.

We took the blessing
from the children.

Holy moments, special
places, silence
between the words.

Why this joy?


Note that this poem, from 2002, was recently posted and still remains posted on the Academy of American Poets writers workshop ( www.poets. org ) .

This response by me to a poet's criticism (poet's name, RayBrown):

Raybrown:
Thank you for the careful reading. I'll look what you've said more closely than I have, and see what I think. I appreciate your careful and interested read.

I wouldn't be surprised if this poem needs revision, it sometimes takes me a while to do so--even years. As you can see, it is a poem already 6 years old.

I do note that there are some aspects that make sense to me, but that they don't make sense to a reader isn't a good sign. One that jumps at me is that the couple from the other church say at theirs the children led the service. At this Palm Sunday the children offer a blessing, but do not lead. The palms and children are blessed prior to their "procession" and blessing the congregation by waving greenery which is dipped in holy water, the priest leading and blessing first as they processe. (If memory serves correct.) Maybe this isn't clear. It is a lovely picture, nonetheless, and in their way the children are helpers and implication of "a little child" as the Biblical note says in a number of places. It is an act of purity and innocence, too, for the congregation.

I am not so sure the poem is served well by entering into these areas in words. As the deeds in the liturgy speak, so does the description of the acts themselves represent these many sided meditations.

They walked among us is a kind of phrase that one hears, as He walks among us, as in Christ. (I even think of when Jesus the Christ did so at the end, as in spirit and body, after the resurrection. Anyway:) The implied being that the blessing is one of a faiithful activity and spirit, and is Holy as Christ is holy, thereby defining a kind of nature of being and holiness.

Again, maybe not specific enough, but this is a poem about an Episcopal or Anglican service, not an any denomination or ceremony as generic. As I say, liturgy speaks and says. It is a statement as well as participatory form.

Maybe I defend in explanation, but partially my remarks to you are also notes to me.

I think that the children are blessed in the same manner as the congregation, or we, so your point an interesting one as reader is not intended by me to offer We are blessed by children more than they blessed. I do like the idea, though. There is a kind of sweetness in it that is almost like an Easter card. Sometimes good.

You have many good suggestions, and food for thought. So thanks again. I will think some more, as I must decide if I need to flesh out the poem or if in its simplicity it tells of the procession and event of the liturgical Season well enough, even if in so stark and understated a way that has ambiguities. Are these ambiguitites worthwhile? I ask, too.

With thanks for your crit,
Peter


Father Arthur Poulin's work is in this entry:

Some notes on the illustrations:
The first painting reproduced as illustration is titled, "The Pathway Home," by Father Arthur Poulin. The second painting reproduced as illustration on this blog entry by Father Arthur Poulin is titled, "Early Spring 2."

Camaldolese, Benedictine monk Father Arthur Poulin paints contemplative works, as he describes them. These shown here are selected from his many paintings.

Father Arthur lives and works at Incarnation Monastery, Berkeley, CA USA--study house of Camaldolese monks located near the Graduate Theological Union, and University of California's North Gate. Berkeley is near San Francisco in its Bay Area.

This description of his paintings, from I. wolk Gallery in St. Helena, California USA:

Father Poulin's paintings have been acquired extensively by people here in
the US and abroad. Many of his commissioned works hang in churches here in
California. The last (third) painting is "Twilight," showing the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

Website for the gallery-- http://www.iwolkgallery.com/

Rick White's work is in this entry:

Photograph of Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal), located in Mill Valley, CA USA by Rick White, Mill Valley, CA USA. Rick is 78 years old, now retired he earned his living as a travel photographer (TWA among others), and as an advertising Art Director in Chicago. He tells me he did work for J. Walter Thomson, among others. Two of the same photographs are used in this blog entry, same view etc. This picture is composed of three images, by the way. So Rick tells me.

“…[F]or I was hungry and you gave me food…
(Matthew 25: 35)

Elizabeth of Hungary
Peter Menkin, Obl Cam OSB

Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal)
Mill Valley, CA USA
November 19, 2008

Tobit 12:6b-9
Matthew 25: 31-40


In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As one report of Elizabeth of Hungary’s good works, “During a famine she generously distributed all the grain from her stocks, cared for lepers in one of the hospitals she established, kissed their hands and feet. For the benefit of the indigent she provided suitable lodging.”

This Holy woman, whose Feast Day is today in the Episcopal Church, was a remarkable woman of religious faith, relationship to God in Christ, and someone who in her exemplary Christian life helped the poor, the widow, the misbegotten.

Our reading from Matthew in the Gospel this day accurately provides an insight into her character and Christ-like living. Note that this stalwart woman who had remarkable endurance in faith, lived in the 13th Century and died at the early age of 24.

Some words from Matthew, telling of Christ’s teachings:

“…[F]or I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” That from Matthew 25: 35-36.

Married at 14 to royalty, husband dead at 20, Elizabeth had already begun her work with the poor and needy. Her husband, also venerated for his service to the poor, supported her in her religious work. As a widow, the work became the greater, and with three children she continued her devotion, becoming even more devout and holy. God was calling her; she responded. This we know. Elizabeth of Hungary said “yes” to the Lord.

As she gave most of what she had to the needs of the poor, and she had much as a royal person, her family became alarmed and threw her out. She was even left homeless with three children, and out in the cold, literally. At one point, as a story goes, Elizabeth was confronted by irate family members who said she was spending their money and giving away their food. Thinking she was carrying money to the poor, they demanded she open her arms and show what she was “hiding.” As the tale goes, she opened her arms, and pressed against her body was a bouquet of roses. So beautiful. The tale lives with her special service to God, and indicates her favor by Him and her goodness. A miracle is what people consider the story of the roses.

Sometimes it is necessary to select an entire Psalm for a homily. So I think.

I am doing so, because it neatly describes this Godly woman. Here it is, the alternate Psalm for reading today:

Psalm 112 is from the New Standard Revised Version of the Bible. I’ll comment on her life as I read the lines.

Praise the Lord!

(And she did so, in heart and deed.)

Happy are those who fear
The Lord.

(Did God not call her, and give her trials as well as rewards?)

Who greatly delight in his commandments.
Their descendants will be mighty
In the land;

(Elizabeth studied under a strict spiritual director, and later in her young life became a Third Order Franciscan. She was a patron of the Franciscan Order, and they are her spiritual descendants, in a way of exemplary--Christ centered living.)

the generation of the upright
will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their
Houses,
And their righteousness endures
Forever.

(We remember Elizabeth eight Centuries later. Surely she is an inspiration, and the Church memorializes her for she was a righteous person who helps us come to Christ, and know what God wants of us. In our own Church of Our Saviour we engage in acts of charity and mercy, helping the poor and needy. One indication of this is our outreach through cooperative, Ecumenical service by feeding the homeless once a month in concert with our neighbor Catholic Church, Mt. Carmel.)

They rise in the darkness as a light
For the upright;
They are gracious, merciful, and
Righteous.
It is well with those who deal
Generously and lend.

(This woman of trials, banished by family among others, driven from her home city, lived a life of joy and service. Somehow this mystery of God’s joy is difficult to fathom. But we find evidence of it time and time again.)

who conduct their affairs with
justice.
For the righteous will never
Be moved;
They will be remembered
Forever.
They are not afraid of evil tidings;
Their hearts are firm, secure
In the Lord.
Their hearts are steady, they will
Not be afraid.

(Elizabeth, young, unafraid, steady in her faith, gave succor to so many, and was a self-sacrificing woman who began living a life of Holy denial. Sometimes it is missed that this remarkable woman as widow raised three children as she did Holy works. Elizabeth was a mother.)

in the end they will look in
triumph on their foes.

(We do believe that good prevails and that our God is on the side of good, that Christ is merciful, generous, forgiving, and loves man and woman, all of creation. We as a Parish participate in our own acts of service and needs of our neighbor as a moral religious community, who believes that our fellow humankind are part of creation. Even the poor, the misbegotten, the widow and alone, or orphan more than deserve our help, but require it.)

They have distributed freely, they
Have given to the poor;
Their righteousness endures
Forever;
Their horn is exalted in honor.

(This day we remember Elizabeth of Hungry, and we join in Eucharist together as part of our Feast Day in celebration. Thanks be to God.)

The wicked see it and are angry;
They gnash their teeth and melt
Away;
The desire of the wicked comes
To nothing.

Here ends the reading and lesson.



The Psalm is both beautiful and instructive. As I say, it does describe and illustrate the life and work of Elizabeth so well.

As you know from what we’ve been talking about, Elizabeth was a young widow. She is considered a patroness of widows. Here are two famous prayers in her name. I will say them for you.

Prayers to St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Patroness of Widows and widowers
feast day: November 17

Dear Saint Elizabeth, you were always poor in spirit, most generous toward the poor, faithful to your husband, and fully consecrated to your Divine Bridegroom. Grant your help to widows and widowers and keep them faithful to their heavenly Lord. Teach them how to cope with their loss and to make use of their time in the service of God. Amen.

Prayer of Widows and Widowers

Lord Jesus Christ, during your earthly life You showed compassion on those who had lost a loved one. Turn your compassionate eyes on me in my sorrow
over the loss of my life's partner. Take him/her into your heavenly kingdom as a reward for his/her earthly service.
Help me to cope with my loss by relying on You even more than before.
Teach me to adapt to the new conditions of my life and to continue doing
your will as I see it. Enable me to avoid withdrawing from life
and make me give myself to others more readily, so that I may continue to live in your grace and to do the tasks that You have laid out for me. Amen.

What to add about this exceptional woman. We praise her.

Thank you for being here on this Feast Day.

Amen.


--Peter Menkin, Pentecost 2008






(Appx. 1330 words)

Obama Leaves Church
an article
by Peter Menkin

Written for the website Religious Intelligence in London ( http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/ ), as assigned by their editor Mr. Colin Blakely, but never published, here is my article "Obama Leaves Church." This is as it was submitted to the editor:


Obama leaves his Church

By Peter Menkin

06/18/08

Considered a man of faith, Barack Obama, the American running for nomination for President of the United States, has left his Church. For reasons of political controversy due to its pastor, The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama left membership in Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), Chicago, Illinois after 20 years. (The church website proclaims: “We are a congregation which is unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian...”)

Trinity United Church of Christ occupies a tan brick building on West 95th Street across railroad tracks from a public housing project, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

The Senator said about leaving, “Too much press harassment, people couldn’t’ worship in peace.” That wasn’t his reason for leaving, but a complaint on the news media attention. The reason were politically controversial remarks by Trinity’s pastor, Reverend Wright.

Wright's comments contradicted one of Obama’s campaign's central messages -- that the candidate can transcend past divisions such as those involving race.

The impediment to the African-American’s campaign is highlighted by Wright’s widely reported sermon remark: “God Damn America” (for its racism}, and blaming the September 11 terrorist attacks on US foreign policy. He has also blamed the U.S. government for the spread of the AIDS virus. Mostly, Wright is seen as anti-white and a racist.

On Bill Moyers Journal, Wright says we are unashamedly Black. His philosophy embodies, “Use the culture of which we are a part.” He preaches there is hope, that life has meaning, and that God is still in control. “We can change. We can do better.” Black Liberation theology is Wright’s UCC message. It is a UCC message he offers, since he is a UCC minister who studied under Martin Marty. Martin E. Marty, distinguished Lutheran Pastor, teacher, and writer who has been on the University of Chicago faculty since 1963.

Grounded in the history of the African-American, Black theology is powerful stuff. He is little sorry about his comments, but in Bill Moyer’s interview, Reverend Wright does appear sorry he made the comment “God damn America” in the Pulpit—if only for a few moments. But it wasn’t one remark, but a string of them that caused the significant distancing between the candidate’s spiritual advisor and candidate.

The press in the United States spends a lot of time and space talking about Senator Obama’s faith, his church, and how he is a Christian—the Senator says he is Christian himself, and that is also news. Religion in the campaign makes news, despite separation of Church and State
. Time magazine says more voters see Senator Obama as a strongly religious person than they do every major presidential hopeful but Mitt Romney, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts. Romney’s Mormonism drew extensive news coverage.

U.S. Senator Obama was married in Trinity church. His children were baptized in the church, and also like the wedding, Reverend Wright performed the solemnizations. The Senator said on leaving the church, “Trinity was where I found Jesus Christ, where we were married, where our children were baptized. We have many friends among the 8,000 members…” It is a church where he was moved many times. When Wright preached one Sunday about the sustaining power of hope in the face of poverty and despair, Obama says he found himself in tears.

He says in one speech:


* “For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change… Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope.”


It is the claim of Reverend Jeremiah Wright that Trinity is a church of Black theology. The Reverend Doctor John Cone, the Harvard Professor and African-American theologian interviewed on American Public Broadcasting System (PBS) by commentator Bill Moyers says on the PBS website:


* “As we examine what contemporary theologians are saying, we find that they are silent about the enslaved condition of black people. Evidently they see no relationship between black slavery and the Christian gospel. Consequently there has been no sharp confrontation of the gospel with white racism. There is, then, a desperate need for a black theology, a theology whose sole purpose is to apply the freeing power of the gospel to black people under white oppression.”

Cone says:


* The Cross is the same as the lynching tree for the Black American in a Harvard Speech. The Christian Reverend Cone wants to start a conversation on this subject. He offers that lynching was terrorism that “worked to a certain degree.” This includes spectacle lynchings where 5,000 would gather to watch.

* Religion is one place where you have an imagination that no one can control.” Black Churches are a place of the spirit… (even though you are living under the shadow of the lynching tree).” … There were 246 years of slavery, and 100 years of segregation and lynching.

* America does not see itself as “not innocent,” according to Cone. “No human being is innocent.”


Reverend Cone is ordained in the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. which is one of the city's largest black churches and not far from Obama's home in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park.

Apparently the Democratic candidate for his party’s nomination is not turning his back on Black theology, per se, since Sunday, June 15, 2008 he spoke from the pulpit at that same mega-church in Chicago, which has 20,000 members and is also considered a Black American church.

It is the history of the African American church in the United States that it is a center of Black community life speaking to the needs of the church and larger community in social and political ways. But not in so partisan a manner as was recently ascribed to the theology and preaching of the Reverend Wright. So the perception became. But he still associates himself with the African American church in general.

Senator Obama spoke of the role of Black fathers and their responsibilities, perhaps more a campaign speech than sermon from a “religious” man whose campaign motto is “Change That Works for You.” After all, he is running for President of the United States—or its Democratic Party nomination more accurately. He gave his talk from the pulpit of the “20,000-member Apostolic Church of God…a short walk from the Obamas’ home. The church’s pastor, Byron Brazier, is an Obama supporter,” reports The New York Times.

It is from the Black Church that Senator Obama learned many things about hope. Can he really take himself out of the African-American church ethos, as he has known it? Perhaps the Reverend Wright thinks not, though he is not saying. His official press release remark on Senator Obama and his family’s leaving was, “…We are saddened by the news …”

END IT

(Appx. 1100 words)

Colors in a room
By Peter Menkin, Obl. Cam., OSB

White walls, painting aqua tope

around orange sun shows

angels emitting fiery elements towards earth. Heavenward

arrangement as raspberry red wooden chairs

around Easter table,

at whose center a chick emerging

from mirrored egg

wrought in stained glass.

Making awakening sound filling the many

sunlit windows

with musical illuminations.

Expectant new day

rising to perform the work of God

in spirit of prayer.

Soon united by the wind

that blows many tongued mysteries

providence requires.

This is sufficiency, to pray.

On the mountain, in the church,

the tendrils of peace offer forth;

stretched open in touch.

The time to speak with God.

Day continues. Work to be done.

Rest comes soon.

Nocturne of dreams will fill an envelope the space--

this room

lives with imagination.

By the table sits a blue and gold trunk;

in place there are candles that are for the inner self,

an offering that asks

make dialogue happy.

Lit, these are connected

to the mysteries in the church by the park,

communicated among the other homes.

Lighted candles in the evening,

day ends.

Waiting they state to God:

“O gracious Light,

pure brightness of the ever-living

Father in heaven...”

Many colors.

Simple icons

adorn the wall: tree with yellow leaves,

hermitage house at monastery,

wind sculpted tree on land jutting

by the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur,

amazing cross and gems

set in worked metal by an artist living in Mexico

(a man praying on his knees).

These are windows,

mirrors,

a vista.

More.

A man lives here.

Book Review: An Anthology of Christian Devotion: Holy Communion


Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. is a beloved Professor who wrote a number of books and taught many seminary students at the Graduate Theological Union and its Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. I know this as I know some bare bone facts of this man of faith, this Reverend who was influential and I understand a contributor to the modern Book of Common Prayer which Episcopalians use in worship on Sundays and daily life. But I don’t have to write an advertisement for the compiler of “An Anthology of Christian Devotion: Holy Communion,” a book I bought used since it is out of print.

My copy was owned by R.J. Brown, a name on the inside front page of the book, published by The Seabury Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1959. I feel like I have a special book, and for my library a collector’s item that I read numerous times in the week. Usually I do so in the evening. I share R.J. Brown’s interest in the book So I imagine. I imagine so for the reason that I bought the book was to get a look at the writings that interested the compiler, so as to gain insight into The Book of Common Prayer. Does this book do this for me? Yes. But more so, the book is a friend and opens my eyes to poetry and short readings from people who had a deep love of the Lord, devotion in their religious life, and a commitment to Christianity.

Quote from the book:
“It must be His voice thou hearest when He says, ‘Come hither, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,’ hence His voice that invites thee: and it must be His voice thou hearest when He says, “This is my Body,’…” Soren Kierkegard

Another reason I chose this book was to enter into and gain in a kind of dialogue about Eucharist. That is the subject about which the title says these devotions give its attention. It isn’t so frequent a thing that I talk with people about Communion, and what it means to us. Today I did so with a woman who is 97, and it was a conversation that came from the Holy Spirit since we had our conversation right after taking Communion together. With this book, one can have that introduction and conversation about Eucharist with this writer, who has passed away and ,as I know and enjoy, left these writings for the edification of readers. It is a joy.

Quote from the book:
“For a bond of love,/a sufficient account of our offering,/the armour of patience,/a stirring up of thanksgiving/confidence in prayer,/mutual indwelling,/a pledge of resurrection,/an acceptable defense at the judgment,/a covenant of our inheritance,/a figure of perfection…” “Before Receiving” by Lancelot Andrews.

The fullness of such a quote from a lovely statement made in poetry is itself a meal. Of course, it tells us about Holy Communion. The poem is longer, but not too long for my taste, so that like the other readings, they do not tire the reader. They refresh one.

If you as a reader of this review wonder what my friend and I said about Eucharist, this quotation above titled “Before Receiving” sums it up—but oh, so eloquently. The book is an eloquent one, and certainly a source of taste--as in taste what we bring to you and have learned for devotion and understanding of our God. There you have my statement about the readings, so there you have also high praise for this compilation of readings about Holy Communion. Certainly one will find it worthwhile to read prior to Sunday Communion, for you will be pleased to share in its depth and sometimes apparent truths known. Here one may gain insight into what was on the mind of Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., too.

Quote from the book:
“Holy and righteous Father, in commemorating here the one perfect sacrifice offered once for all on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ, in joyful expectation of his coming, we offer ourselves to thee as a living and holy sacrifice….” “Liturgy of the Reformed Church of France," 1946.

--Peter Menkin, Easter 2007

"...(O)ur hearts are opened wide with a sweetness of love that is beyond words." RB

Today this Easter Wednesday something a little different. A poem posted twice, the same one. Each is a little different. The first is the newest version and incorporates a quotation from The Rule of Saint Benedict. The second version is not so much older than the first. It written just the day previous on Tuesday, another beautiful Spring day here in Northern California across the Golden Gate Bridge in the small city where I live. Note that in the second, the earlier of the two versions, there is a line about Christ and the Spirit in the blood giving life. Not so in the first one.

Embrace of God (2)
by Peter Menkin

The heart yearns,
wishes for warmth, finds opening
to the Lord. "With tears and the attention
of heart..." this divine love sustains life. More.
In the secret of the self, within the psyche,

we yearn for knowledge with self recognition of existence,
Christ does feed us. More. The beyond
calls; mankind discovers something uniquely
greater than the mysteries that Intrigue senses and thoughts."

...(O)ur hearts are opened wide
with a sweetness of love
that is beyond words."

Easter reveals to us this greater than,
this renewal of the good, exploding with eternal might
there is love greater everlasting
gift unforgettable recognized with prayer. More.
With a knowledge of expanded eternity beyondthe measure of imagination--
the gasp of surrender.

Promise that tells us God
Embraces the spirit of mankind.



















Embrace of God (1)
by Peter Menkin

The heart yearns,
wishes for warmth, finds opening
to the Lord. A deeper thing,
like the blood that courses through the body

this divine love sustains life. More.
In the secret of the self, within the psyche,
we yearn for knowledge: recognition of existence,
Christ does feed us. More. The beyondcalls;

mankind discovers something uniquely
greater than senses and thoughts.
Easter reveals to us this greater than,
this renewal of the good, exploding with eternal might.
There is love greater, everlasting.

Gift unforgettable recognized in prayer. More.
With apperception--
the gasp of surrender.
Promise that tells us God
embraces the spirit of mankind.








In the poem, the word "apperception" means to recognize, to have an inner sense (without self consciousness), an awareness. That is almost the dictionary definition, more the second definition of the word.

Note: You may visit my website which has poetry and is a personal website at:
http://www.petermenkin.com/