Book Review: Excellent book by Andre Louf on prayer and the heart--beautiful--'Teach us to Pray'

by Peter Menkin

Andre Louf

This is a lovely book on prayer and the heart. The copy I own is by a different publisher, and I purchased it used for what is probably a pretty good sum. Not like $50, but still for a used book this was a harder to find one. It was worth the money to me, and I sometimes go back to it from time to time.

Usually, I don’t quote from the very beginning of a book, but this from the introduction, right at the start, tells a lot about the title:

“The purpose of this short book is to do just a little to appease the hunger for prayer; a hunger to be found here, there and everywhere in these days.”

The subtitle of the Darton, longman and Todd publisher’s version that I own now was owned previously by a nun. I found that worthwhile and interesting, especially since she had marked up various lines with a yellow marker. They may not have always been my choice, but I liked hers and it added an additional dimension to the reading of the book translated by Hubert Hoskins.



Anchorite, photo by Henry Worthy, Oblate Cam Osb,
(unknown location Europe)

 The book is a personal testimony by the author, a former monastery Abbot and a man of the heart and other matters. Is this also a book of the psyche, I think so, for it asks the reader to go places in prayer and to know he or she can approach God in this manner. Here is one of those highlightings by my previous book owner, and I think she’s chosen a good quote from the part on cosmic prayer:

“That you have become a free human being, that your heart has begun to live and to sing, that the word of God is able to reverberate freely and frankly in your inmost centre, is a source of light and power for anyone.”

There are other dimensions to prayer one uncovers in this book, and I was so moved by the work as to be inspired to write a poem. Here is the poem:

Mr. de Wolf’s hope…
Peter Menkin

Something awakened
his heart,
becoming inner chamber,
place of prayer.


Who could know, even
when it occurred
aware of this–
striving with the spirit,
not striving with the spirit.


How could one know?
Mr. de Wolf became
a knowing man of prayer
in Church. Later he
reflects, that was
my hope.



Two old monks in contemplation
photo by Henry Worthy, Oblate Cam OSB
(unknown location Europe)

 That we come to know something of God is a matter of approachability of God, and the book is encouraging in this matter. What does prayer do. According to Andre Louf, “It cleanses people and things. It lays their deep centre bare; and in so doing prayer restores and heals the creation…every prayer is always related with blessing; and it will normally overflow into eucharistia, thanksgiving.”

Here are some of the quotes highlighted by my unknown previous owner of the used book, “Teach Us to Pray.”

• “The living spirit of God is the fount of prayer in us.”
• “Deep within Jesus, the Will of the Father was at one with His most fervent longing to pray.”
• “…this meeting between the Word and the heart of a man is of one cannot say how much greater importance.”

There is a discussion of the Psalms in this beautiful book, and I say beautiful because of the topics and the manner of handling. One gets the unwritten idea that God loves us and that he is generous, and forgiving, that we can enter into private and public prayer with Him. The Psalms are for public prayer, and also “For many faithful people they are a source of inspiration and the means of nurturing their silent, interior prayer.”

For the religious man or woman this worthwhile book will be a lovely addition to a private library or sharing with a friend. Though a little expensive because it is harder to find, it is worth the money to many especially one who has an interest in religious reading and reading about prayer. I have given the book five stars. I recommend this small book, mine about 107 pages and know you, too, may find yourself returning to it from time to time.

Audio reading of the book review as read by its author Peter Menkin:

This book review appears on The Church of England Newspaper, London website where it was posted in 2011. It was written and originally appeared on the web in 1995, with the audio reading added for Church of England Newspaper, London in 2011.

The courage to Pray--note on Easter prayer
by Peter Menkin

Searching for the words, the courage
to pray enters my life. Like an arrow,
the declaration of thanksgiving comes
and I say aloud, moving my lips:

Like promise, like heart song, like breath
that is in me--speak. My friend the monk
advises: speak. So trying short notes,
with courage of soul, speak I do.




The artist who painted the flowers, what I call tulips, has a name: Jerome Lawrence. Fortunately, this painting is in the Episcopal Church Visual Arts web page archives.Jerome Lawrence
http://www.ecva.org/exhibition/Gifts2009/Lawrence.htm

Jerome Lawrence says: I find beauty in both subject and process. I bargain with artistic elements in varying intensity, variety, placement and proportion then shift within styles as if choosing colors or shapes.

Article from Carter Center on Jerome Lawrence's struggle and tulips
http://www.cartercenter.org/news/features/lawrence_ww_profile.html


The fine art of Jerome Lawrence, website
http://www.jeromelawrence.net/

Video with Jerome Lawrence and Mrs. Carter
http://www.webmd.com/video/mental-illness-art-therapy

All Saint’s Eve is near
By Peter Menkin

On a wish and rainbow
and stars in heaven
it's all right to pray on knees
at the edge of your bed.
Pray for children
all over the world.
Pray for morning joy and light of night.
Your heart is ready,
it is humility in love.

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.

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.

This story or poetic recollection of praying with the Sisters is about impetuousness, or else the Holy Spirit. The church is a living place.

I sometimes wish I had not done something, or said something. Then I try to find a way to make it better, if it comes along. Here in this telling, I was moved by the need to get on my knees. What I wanted to be better was no loss, no mourning, no tears, no coming and waiting for the Kingdom, some way to end the ache and the loneliness, and a means to reach out as a human being.

The situation was like the time I entered into church early one day and only the minister was there. I cried out, "Reveal yourself." My call was to God. Daring cry in the almost empty church, but I was full of song and heard the Lord and heavens singing.

How does one confess ones mistakes, glorious moments as a fool in the spirit, and simply times of saying the thing that is all right in a given context but wrong in another. Or so is thought at the moment, when not so. Is the result this answer: Many times these things have a way of working themselves to the best.

There is an awe to responding to God. We were doing that in the evening, when it was dark, in our aloneness and togetherness.

I hope this is so since in this situation no one minded my getting on my knees and praying. Me and the Nuns, that's what we did. This was one of those times when I think God was pleased. I wanted to tell about it because there is a certain truth in this kind of experience, one of praying with people one doesn't know in a church one's never been to with religious people one never saw before for a woman who died and is missed and at the time surrounded mostly by friends. I think I know that going home time, those moments when things aren't always the same, when Christ is near, and also when I, too, carried someone else's cross.

Thank God others have helped me with mine.

Have I evoked the neighborhood nature of the experience with the worldly famous during the unfathonable? If not, let me tell you the spiritual reality is true and real. Maybe it was a one time life thing, but I want to reach out some more and also be. This was a hard poem for me to write for all the reasons I tell about in this note to the poem.

I want to let this poem rest here a while because here is where responsibility and friendship for another was a matter of respect. We exalted the ordinary that night.

My notes above are from the original post on The Atlantic Monthly poetry board in 2001. They are exactly as posted. Now the poem:


When I Prayed with Sisters of Charity
by Peter Menkin - Mar 26, 2001

Usually,
one waits when
there is a coffin
in the church.

I have cried. Her
mother was dead
and though not mine,
nor my Church, prayer
was what I needed.

Her mother must
have been a devout
woman, I thought,
though my companion
with whom I'd arrived
was not. In the
Spirit
I got to my
knees.
Sisters of Charity,
too, were praying.

I think that
this helped, their
gracious simplicity
that night time
in the city
at a
neighborhood church.

Fourth Commandment: Day of Rest

In a film trailer, I noticed a clip of President Bush talking with a citizen. The woman said she had three jobs. President Bush said in so many words, this is American enterprise. I do not think he was thinking of the Sabbath, or commenting on it, so much as remarking on how much Americans work --and the President saying it is good. I don't think it is good to work that hard.

Now that I've gone deeper into the subject than I planned, it is my opinion that people should not work so hard to make ends meet. I think it is important to set aside a time of rest. The Ten Commandments allow us space to decide how we will interpret them, and live by them. The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to bring one closer to God.

Most of us in some ways violate the Ten Commandments. We are all difficult people to someone, and difficult people to God. Praying for each other is helpful in keeping neighbor and friend, difficult people, too. Prayer needs to bring people who are evil towards God, and people who are good.. This quote from Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, July August 2007:

"But praying for difficult people confuses us--do I want this person to be blessed? Did I want my daughter's wayward boyfriend to make money so he could finance her life on the streets? In these cases, we can borrow from the best, using ideas from the saints. For example, Jesus and the Apostle Paul used the following phrases:

"that [Christ] would be in them and they in [Christ] (John 17:23)

"that they may become completely one with others who love God (John 17:21, 23)

"that they be strengthened in their inner being with power through Christ's Spirit (Eph. 3:16)

"that they be rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:17)

"that they know (interactively) the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:19)

"that they would overflow with God's love and be full of discernment (Phil. 1:9-10)"

From "A Journey of Formation" by Jan Johnson in Weavings.

Saturday Commandment; Day of Rest
By Peter Menkin

The integral given

by the Lord

is rest the seventh day.

By this mankind may find

another way of living

a better, more fruitful

living life to God.

Pondering the meaning,

and examining my way of living

with a mighty God:

Alas, modern living in the 21st Century,

is not so friendly

to the God we know.

Desire for God: a Poem with Passion

I attended a Bible study at an acquaintance's home, and there were about six of us there. I learned people come to Christ many ways. This seems a cliche, but my eyes were opened to the sincerity of my new friends. I found others who had a like mind in their desire for God. In this poem I write as a mainstream Christian of my passion. Call this need and desire.

Grace, Affection...

by Peter Menkin

This yearning need, by grace is affection

treasured, acceptance satisfying.

I am a man of faults.

You enlarge my heart by presence,

moving me to accept the other.

The other. You Almighty are other.

Each day prayers are offered, and study goes on:

reading books on spiritual matters.

It is the prayer that helps, mostly.

The books instruct, in so many ways.

The connection is living the life in the Way.

Struggle sometimes to be friend to neighbor;

love brings me strength and a wisdom,

offering a perfection. You are love,

known. I lift up my heart to You.

I open my heart to you. I wait.

Silence. You are love, unknown.

Now I must hush. I must hush.

Prayer to Aid in the Darkness

There is darkness in my mind, what I've called "the crocodile brain" part. A living darkness, ancient and primitive. I live with this part of me. A teacher says that while traveling, and I say, too, for help with the darkness, short prayers.

Taught that a prayer can be like an arrow, it is also a balm and a solution, a civilizing act, a way to goodness. An arrow to heaven. O Lord, come to my assistance.

At Easter time we rejoice for there is a promise, a certain gift and redemption in the risen Christ. The wonderful prayer in "The Book of Common Prayer" that says, "We bless you for our creation, preservation,/and all the blessings of this life;/but above all for your immeasurable love/in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ..."



One word prayers...(2001)
by Peter Menkin

One word prayers were what I practiced
on the drive home, trying on the way
to see in the night towards San Francisco
where a purple glow in the sky distinguished
the unseen cityscape, and to the north,
metal towers lit with red warning lights, for airplanes
to note in the darkness. I was told by a teacher,
short prayers are good while

travelling. On the way, the Church prays
as it goes and its members do so also. Surprise,

interruption there is peace in the evening;
as a seeker of God, lover of Christ,
I know the distracting onslought
of inner conversation--
ancient enemies that wait
in the darkness of the hour in ones mind,
like the crocodile brain deep inside. Accept
the suffering, and live to God's presence:
my short prayer is "Abba," I cry.

Looking towards Holy Week: a statement on Love of God

What to label this poem, posted in time for Holy Week? The poem, written in 2001 is about reverence, Christ, and Love of God. In my Church we give one another The Peace of the Lord. Many people have known this peace. The love of Christ is like it, a special peace.

Prayer inviting quiet inner space...(2001)
by Peter Menkin

In desire for the Lord, I look
at my book of Year One now past to find
Saturday and I confess my notes O God,

in preparation for Sunday,

never failing providence I copied,
these words to speak with my lips:
I confess You, One God
ordereth all things both in heaven
and earth: good words to set ones
heart to pray we humbly beseech
thee to put away from us all hurtful
things and to give us those things

which are profitable for us. This
gift offers, let my words speak in praise
to request, beseeching and to give us
those things restoring us to life;
for we are like grass, and my love
a life-giving way undertaken reverently
to be mindful of You, through Jesus Christ
our Lord; to reflect on any quiet inner space
in which to listen to the Word, living
in communion and journeying on.

Let us never forget this presence so I shall
lest through carelessness fall away from
the love of God and cease listening
and reading to know the generosity of God
resplendent; in goodness as to add my
words to the innumerable and wonderful.

A prayer, a poem, a recitation about sanctifying oneself...to be with God...

I have liked this poem from the time I wrote it some years ago. It is posted on my website www.petermenkin.com . Usually, I stick with poems that are newer or at least not on the website. Yet I liked this one so much at this time of year in Pentecost that I am posting it here. Note that it was originally written in March, from my notes at a Study House in Berkeley, California, Incarnation Monastery. Some how, this year it fits here as we continue in the season.

I hope it will speak to you as it has spoken to me, and some others who have read the poem. You can tell that I like it very much. I do not always like my own poems "very much." It is something I endeavor to find when writing these, that they will continue to speak some time after conception and writing.

Notes from the study house in March, No. 3 (2001)
by Peter Menkin

In God of God,
beginning with the mnemonic--with Christ
beside others.
Around the Abba.The Alpha.

Tree of the Cross,
giving voice to yearning
within. The returning
movement
of intention to be
with God the whole day.

The master says,
"not to be habitually forgetful,"
prayer of aspiration!
Help me in this God.

Exploring prayer time, a short poem about approaching the Lord...

Today I visited Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for Evening Prayer. On Thursdays, like today's Evening Prayer, the time is a choral Prayer time. Two friends went with me, and as usual everyone who has gone with me has enjoyed the prayer experience, and certainly the music of the choral group.

In this short poem posted today, the reader will find one sense of prayer, for here I outline the self approaching the Lord. It is a known issue for Christians that we are thankful for Christ's life, for his redeeming mankind. At some point, this becomes personal to the extent that the inner man, the self, the part of a man or woman who has an essence, still an observing self made stronger through succumbing to the knowledge that the persecuted Christ, the Christ of the Cross is able to evoke for us the sense of self that we are sinners. We pray through God's grace. In prayer one is received.

The part of the identity of a man or woman that is human, individual and universal, yearns for the peace and forgiveness that is part of the Christ one gets to know.

We want to grasp this eternity, what is there for us we do grasp through humility and the gift of grace that there is an essential part that is reached. So I have written about some of the matter of experiencing belief and faith in the Lord Jesus and in the continuing love and faithfulness of God the Father in this poem, making that word "self" broader and hopefully a more imaginative self.

Prayer Time...
by Peter Menkin

The afternoon comes,
Each day prayer time:
Being with You.
Quiet,
Silence my thoughts.

In the presence of God,
In Christ,
In the Spirit
My self approaches,
My self it waits,
To just be.

Poem about Communion: Another one that reflects the experience...

It appears that I have a number of poems on the Communion experience. This one is like a prayer. I hope you like it. My experience with Communion has been a refreshing one. I have included a poem by the Episcopal Priest John B. Coburn. It is also a poem like a prayer. I post it here to provide a flavor for prayer and poetry.

Hospitality of Communion...( 2001)
By Peter Menkin

In the poverty that lies of my sorrow,
I asked with the bended
knee of my heartfor gifts as Solomon
did when he asked of You
wisdom.
Wisdom day, I want to know

this rhythm living
with You.
Some wonderfully enter
into spectacular celebration

on Sundays that is a feast,
and I am waiting
to know some of this incredible
Word: let my prayer rise like

a sweet savor,
incense that is happiness.
Discovery, you are the Vine,
and there is such celebration!

I called out in the Church,
Reveal Yourself, O my God!
I am needy and seek You.

In the quiet part of day,
towards sunset,
hear me.

My sorrow brings
me a lowly heart. MayI know this lowly heart
in your poverty.
I have met Youin others.
They invite me
with an ache. Heart. Mine.
Give me
hospitality.
Accept me.













In Weakness, Strength
by John B. Coburn, (1914- )

Take my weakness, God.
Take
my failures,
my sins,
my dishonesties,
lies, pride, and lusts.

God knows--you know--
I can't do anything with them.

So, for Christ's sake, take them.

And give me, I pray you,
not so much a clean spirit,
nor a pure heart,
nor a sense of forgiveness
give me
a sense of you,
of you in me
and I in you.

Then shall I be strong
to be
for you.
Simply to be.

From page 408, the book, "Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayers" compiled by Christopher L. Webber. Reviewed by me on Amazon.com at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819219622/ref=cm_aya_asin.title/103-3795260-4525434?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155 .

Two poems about centering prayer..."The mysterious majesty"

I practice centering prayer, what is also known as contemplative prayer. These two poems tell of that practice. They are new poems, and short. Regarding contemplation, the monks of New Camaldoli have been practicing that kind of prayer for centuries. Here is their website: http://www.contemplation.com/ .

You may also wish to learn more about centering prayer, as directed and taught by Father Thomas Keating. Here is his website: http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/frntpage.htm . Sometimes Father Thomas offers a telephone conference about centering prayer, and the conference usually lasts about an hour. The cost is nominal.

The Mysterious Majesty
by Peter Menkin

The earnest prayer
I offer is to receive
The mysterious, majesty
Of God in a quiet
Way of silence.

To wait on the Lord,
This special time,
A set aside for me
And my soul to know
You are.









Being with You
by Peter Menkin

The afternoon comes,
Each day prayer time:
Being with You.
Quiet,
Silence my thoughts.

In the presence of God,
In Christ,
In the Spirit
My self approaches,
My self it waits,
To just be.










If you recall, I wrote a poem about Pentecost and referenced the God of the Old Testament. One would usually make the poetic statement I made referencing the Trinity or Christ. I feel I need to explain myself, and here is a quote from a book titled, "Introduction to Theology" by Owen C. Thomas and Ellen K. Wondra. It is a book one would find in an Episcopal Seminary course, and was suggested by Father Tierney who is an Episcopal Priest. The poem I refer to is "Pentecost Sunday Prayer."

The quote:

"First, it is clear that the God attested in the Old Testament is one, a unity, and not a plurality. But second, it is also clear that God of the Old Testament is not a simple unity, but a complex, organic, or differentiated unity. All the anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament interpret the unity of Yahweh on the analogy of the unity of the human self. Furthermore, certain divine attributes or powers, such as Spirit, Word, and Wisdom, are distinguished and tend to be personalized and hypostatized. These terms refer to extensions of God's personal presence and powerful activity in relation to the world. They are not systematicallyrelated in the Old Testament, and they overlap in function. But they point to a differentiation in the Godhead that is to some extent analogous to the New Testament differentiation among the terms Father, Son, and Spirit. In the New Testament, the Old Testament terms Word and Wisdom are applied to Christ, and Old Testament texts concerning the Spirit of God are applied to the Holy Spirit. In other words, the New Testament authors were able to understand the relation of the Son and the Spirit to the Father in a way roughly analogous to how the Old Testament authors understood the relation of Word, Spirit, and Wisdom to Yahweh."

I chose the imagery of the Exodus from the Old Testament to say that we are liberated by our God, Christ, and that he brings us to freedom. In any event, I hope you enjoyed that poem "Pentecost Sunday Prayer" about the Holy Spirit bringing us a new freedom in Christ, liberating us. It is not my usual thing to make a sermon or homily in these notes, so I will stop here and let that poem posted previously speak for itself.

"Pentecost Sunday Prayer" and "The Winds of Youth in Spring": two poems...

Spring has certainly come to this town where I live, North of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. The second poem posted today is about Spring, and though this month will mark Summertime, I can still feel Spring. The poem itself was written in 2001, and it has never been published but is now here for you, reader.

The first poem is one from 2002 and though posted on a writer's workshop, elicited no comments. Otherwise, I would fill you in on the comments and maybe post those with the poem on Pentecost. By the way, I have trouble spelling "Pentecost" every year. And every year I look it up on the Brittanica website because they have a Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Because I spell it wrong, it doesn't find the word. I suggest to the publishers of the Brittanica site that they create the dictionary so that misspelled words can find the right spelling. Is that so hard? It is by a process of illimination that I get the right spelling.

Pentecost Sunday Prayer (revise)
by Peter Menkin -- 2002

For I am empty and forlorn,
so I hope and pray.
Tongues of language and flames.

Lord.
I search; let me
welcome the Holy Spirit.
The God who brought
us out of Egypt to freedom;

let God do this emancipation:
accept and welcome,
and let us receive the Spirit.

Reach out, lift the heart,
have faith that the Spiritfire
comes settling in, penetrating us:
Goodness.

Tongues of language and flames.
Dance in our hearts.
Let it be me in Church,l
et it be me, let it be others.
Come Holy Spirit. Consuming fire;
burning yes.










The winds of youth in Spring, they call...(2001)
by Peter Menkin

Many times my youth
comes to me, like a breeze
stirring the landscape,
and all that's in it, reminding me
that my companionship

with other living things
is renewed by growing.
Birth is an exclamation
surprise, and my springs
of blood in marrow of bone

are enlisted with birth's
great divine entry
to this world. We adore
the strength of youth,

calling to it in unknowing
conversations that continue
as part of daily life.

Fresh stirrings and wonderment.
This touch of exclamation
is the wind caressing
the spring day, awakens

the years even during
the aches of moments;
so alluring and enjoyable,
this renewing youth.
Carried into older age.

On preparation and entry to contemplative prayer: a Poem...

Welcome to a more personal poem, written at an urban monastery, the study house of Camaldolese Monks. I wrote this poem with the thought of following the preparation and entry into contemplative prayer.

What better time to do so than on retreat in the year 2002 at Incarnation Monastery in Berkeley, California (San Francisco's Bay Area). I hope you like this memory of prayer, which appears to be relevant to my prayer life today. I say "appears to be" because every preparation and entry into such prayer is not the same. Yet it is similar enough for the poem to have validity today.

You can find this poem on my personal web page http://www.petermenkin.com/ . The page is not complete at this time, still a work in progress. It will contain many poems, some that have not been posted on the web previously.


On Retreat (revise)
by Peter Menkin

I: Preparation

Attend with the ear of your heart
Listen in the silence
at night or daytime
through trials and living.
This Rule brings God, the Lord
closer. Labor of obedience:

Before beginning a goodwork,
pray earnestly.
We are the Lords counted
sons and daughters.
The path offers good gifts,
open your eyes to the light.

Arise from sleep.
The Rule offers the voice
from heaven this day.

II. Prayer of request and confession

So much strife, the world
encroaches and wearies
with wearing. Stains.
Run on with life's light;

I seek this lightness
of being
that darkness and death
not overtake me.
The uncommon call, hear
his voice--do not harden your heart.

Mercy that gives and opens,
says receive these words, so offered.
Learn the fear of the Lord
in everyday living--even a moment in time.

Day star Benedict,
man of God speakingacross
centuries in holy words:
For a man or womanin days journey; arise

my soul and spirit to
join this way.

III. Place of retreat begins its Work

Quiet sounds of the house
reflect the Spirit resting
upon this place:
The birds talk
of here, hear them outside. Yet the quiet
envelopes with support
sinking to the bone.

Peaceful quiet, peaceful sounds.
Drench me arena,
a sanctuary amid
urban sounds: jet overhead,
passing car all these present
yet distant.

The tension of retreat:
subtle, strong, weak, resiliant.
I rest, await renewal again.

IV. Seeking the Lord

There is quiet, no hardsound--strong silence
of solitude and work.
This earthly strength
reveals heaven.Christ's spirit
rests on this place.

V. Waiting on the Spirit

Inner life jangles, twitches,
aware of soothing Spirit.
Waiting.Grace that underlines
living.

Ask for waters
that spring from abundance.
Quenches.

VI. Faith in God begins

Our meditation moves
to contemplation: today
let it be unto me;
so morning prayer starts.
I ponder my desire
for release from earthly pain,
find out about flesh again,

discovering the Spirit
holds other fruits: Wait
on the Lord.

Can one know, glimpse--the great yes
of vastness greater
than mountains and hills.
Creation, all being.
Spark, starburning bright,
the soul groans.