Perform your tasks in meekness.
Then you will be loved by those whom God accepts.
Maybe we are just called to witness.
Even  if we are among the rejects.

I am at the Chapelle Notre Dame de Grace.
With long views over the Seine.
The priest in his sermon stands to the Virgin face to face.
Proclaiming her ever lasting reign.

He worships her so powerfully
With so much charity.
We are all rent spiritually.
Understanding our destiny.

She is the mother over all.
Of us all.

….

Perform tasks meekly
Loved by those whom God accepts
That is your witness

……,

See Sirach 3 : 17- 18

From the one who had not.
Even what he had will be taken away.
How do we untie life’s difficult knot.
We ponder , we pray but who can say.

The feast day of Saint Jeanne Jugan
Is celebrated today.
The founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor Han a plan.
Caring for the poor and infirm wherever they lay.

I am at her Cancale Maison Natale.
In her day a tiny hovel.
Devoid of furniture but clean not “sale.”
Hardly anything level.

She started with nothing.
She gave away everything.

…..

The one who had not
What’s his is taken away
So we just must care

……

See Matthew 25: 14-30

The Lord is king.
Let earth rejoice.
Let us sing.
And find our true voice.

Let the many islands be glad.
Justice and right are the foundation of his throne.
There is no need to be sad.
Or indeed ever to be alone.

The mountains melt like wax.
Before the face of the Lord of all the earth.
We need only fear our faith being lax.
In God’s love there can be no dearth.

The skies proclaim his justice.
All peoples see his glory and fitness.

…..

The Lord is our King
The many islands are glad.
Mountains melt like wax

…….

See Psalm 97

To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday.
Come and gone like a watch in the night.
Let us be open to a new day.
And a new dawning light.

I am looking towards Mont St Michel.
Crystal clear across the estuary.
I almost feel I can hear it’s calling bell.
The evening is shades of pink and distant grey.

But what a monument to faith’s call.
Standing proud for much more than any century.
We will not lose heart if it does not fall.
A place of prayer and sanctuary.

This is not just a place for the tourist season .
It is a place of hope and reason.

…..

Just a thousand years
Are for you a nighttime watch
Come and gone so soon

….

See Psalm 90

If I take wings of the dawn.
Or dwell at the sea’s furthest end.
Even there your hand would lead me to a new dawn.
Your right hand would hold me fast to the end.

Dying is like walking into the sea over sharp pebbles.
And then deliciously floating weightless.
But a thousand times more as the dying body rebels.
Then the soul is set free at last bodyless.

I dread walking back from the sea.
Stumbling over an unseen rock.
But at death the soul is forever set free.
The gates of heaven unlock.

The night shall be as the day is bright.
All will be transcendent celestial light.

…….

I walk into sea.
Stumbling over hidden stones
Then sea sets me free

….

See Psalm 139

You blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and the plate.
That the outside may also be clean.
At this spiritual feast are we going to be late.
Have we the truth through unknowing clouds seen.

As I sat through Mass wondering.
Nothing seemed believable.
Once again with this liturgy I was doubting.
I even questioned the bible.

We go through this dry period.
All seems exaggerated.
Human made.
Even manafactured.

But then I read at the back the explanation .
Mais qui Donc est Jesus? And  all seemed reason.

……

Clean the cup’s inside
The outside Will then come clean
That’s what we must do

……

See Matthew 23 : 23-26

Our gospel came to you not only in word.
But in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Do we listen even though we have heard.
And seek to ascend our spiritual turret.

We worry so much about death.
But it is just the freeing of the soul from the body.
A new galvanised spiritual breath.
We just enter heavens’s lobby.

Only our body dies.
It decays.
The soul flies.
Just the end of a passing phase.

No need to worry
Here is nothing scary.

….

The soul does not die
For it has nothing to die
It is just spirit

….

See 1 Thessalonians

All discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.
But later  it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
We just need to be here in this moment, present.
In a sense of mindful quietness.

I am reading Lewis’ Out of the Silent World.
Malacandra is a place of peace.
Wars and hatred are finished , furled.
And all races exist  together without cease.

I love it that at death they are simply unbodied.
That the soul just leaves the body.
The soul is immortalised.
Leaving just a dead body.

Only the body dies.
The soul flies.

….

So we do not die
We are simply unbodied
Our soul carries on

……

See Hebrews 12

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi.
Let me go into the field and glean. among the ears of grain.
Ruth the truth, she could see.
The true lane.

Ruth the migrant.
Was more worthy.
This we can scent.
She was the least blameworthy.

Why, she asked, have I found favour.
Since I am a foreigner.
But she was a lifesaver.
And ultimately a redeemer.

We can learn from the past
That compassion must last.

……

Ruth was a migrant
Yet still she was more worthy
Perhaps we can learn

….

See Ruth 2

Teacher , which is the greatest commandment.
In the  law.
What will be our own testament
Have we obeyed the law.

You should love your God with all your heart.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
The best way to start.
For myself and yourself.

This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it.
An arch with one pillar would be rent.
Two commandments are needed to make us fit.

Two essential pillars.
Too often forgotten pillars.

…….

Two great commandments
Both based on essential love
Both easily missed

…..

See Matthew 22: 34-40

The wedding feast is ready.
But those invited were not worthy.
How do we keep our own faith steady.
Are we truly trustworthy.

Are we invited to the wedding feast.
Do we just make excuses.
Is our faith little by little decreased.
Do we obey our trustworthy spiritual muses.

The king saw there was a man.
With no wedding garment.
We too are under God’s scan.
In all seasons not just in Lent.

We are invited.
But have we resisted.

……

The wedding ready
And we are all invited
But do we then come

…….

See Matthew 22 : 1-14

Let the little child come to me.
For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.
At mass the children were noisy but now I could see.
Their playfulness comes from heaven.

La basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli is grand.
La Porciuncola is modest .
But all grandeur sinks into the sand.
In St Francis’ humility we can truly rest.

I see the basilica’s towering white wall .
Rising  ever upwards.
The modest stone house wall.
Looks heavenwards.

Which is the true way.
I think we know the right way.

……

The house is tiny
The Basilica is grand
Which is the true way

…….

See Matthew 19: 13-15

He has brought down the mighty from their throne.
And exalted those of humble estate.
Now we never need be alone.
We have entered in our mind a new state.

We all knelt at the consecration.
Adoring the raised host.
The Carabiniere stood to attention.
In Spoletto cathedral none of us felt lost.

But it was Mary’s song.
That struck me profoundly.
Here was the truth for which we long.
We left that place gratefully.

Mary we felt is the mother of God.
And he is here among us, God.

….

Mary, God’s mother
Is thus truly always here
This we surely know

……

See Luke 1: 39-56

The mountains leapt like a ram.
And the hills like yearling sheep.
Behold the holy lamb.
The baby in the womb will leap.

I am standing in front of the Madonna del Parto.
She is heavy with glorious  child, let trumpets sound.
The hope of the world is wonder lo.
No longer in her church , air conditioned museum bound.

The determined angels stand guard.
Her garment under the blue, white for purity.
His fate is truly starred.
All that is gentle but mighty.

All is perfect , symmetrical.
But her face is sad , the future she can tell.

…..

See the Madonna
The genius of Piero
The hope of the world

…..

See Psalm 114

Whatever you bind on earth.
Shall be loosed in heaven.
And whatever you loose on earth.
Shall be loosed in heaven.

I am at mass in Assisi.
I cannot understand the sermon.
But no matter all is sublime in Assisi.
And everything is right with any sermon.

Here the barrier between us and heaven is thinner.
Giotto bears one up to the sky.
Even the crowds seem bearable , thinner.
Here one starts to loosen the earth’s tie.

I knelt before St Francis’ tomb.
Dispelling all woes , worries and gloom.

…….

Quiet in Assisi
A place to ponder and pray
For all is timeless

…..

See Matthew 18 : 15-20

You shall serve him.
By his name you shall swear.
You shall hold fast to him.
There is nothing to fear.

Why do we need fear death’s nothing.
Do we worry about a cut nail.
The body is just nothing.
All that matters is the soul’s eternal tale.

What is the soul.
It is unique and universal.
Devoid of weary bodily toil.
It always was and will be , it cannot fail.

We cannot comprehend it.
It just is the never changing it.

……

What is then our soul
It’s universal unique
Unknown yet it’s true

.. …

See Deuteronomy 10: 12-22

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
The conviction of things not seen.
This essential truth strikes to the core.
Of all things seen and unseen.

What for me is the proof of God
Nothing intellectual is satisfying.
First mover , creation by design cannot prove God.
Everything ends in questioning.

But when I enter a church.
I feel something, someone is there.
I do not need in that moment to search.
God’s presence is clear.

There is nothing left to prove.
Or restlessly disprove or approve.

…..

Faith can be hoped for
It does not need to be seen
It just comes to us

….

See Hebrews 11

Five of them were foolish.
And five were wise.
What really do we realise
And what do we surmise.

Are our lamps ready.
We do not know when our bridegroom will arrive .
Is our faith steady.
Does it thrive.

Death may take us.
Ready or not.
But it certainly is for us.
However we tie life’s entangled knot.

The knock on the door does sound.
Death now or later is all around.

……

When will the knock come
Yes the door may be well locked
But death will knock soon.

……

See Matthew 25 : 1-13

O that today you would listen
As at Meribah, not your heart.
To the Lord let us hasten.
And let us make a new start.

By chance in the church praying.
A stillness descended.
The moment would be passing.
But a prayer ascended.

I suddenly felt we are all called.
In our own way a prophet to bear witness.
That prayer had not in vain ascended.
We all have our own particular spiritual fitness.

We may think ourselves worthless.
But in all of us somewhere is a little holiness.

……

Are we just worthless
Or are we sometimes prophets
Maybe yes or no

…….

See Psalm 95