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Quick hit for the skies and a dedicated clip from Song of Songs

Return flight home lots of turbulence landing and flying over Lake Erie.  Loved it.  What have I been missing all of these years never flying.  I want to fly over the Rockies.  A west coast pilgrimage will be sought. The Cistercian monastery Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville, Utah comes quickly to mind.  Another is the Colordado mountain Trappist retreat provided by St Benedict’s Monastery, the home of Father Thomas Keating.  My immediate and intense attraction to flying makes me think I should have considered being a pilot.  My mother would have never let it happen.

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Song of Songs for Ann Marie Najjar, for everything she has done for me.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon.
…from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.
You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride,
You have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes,
With one jewel of your necklace
(rosary).
How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,

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Sequester

Isolation,
Jesus glorified
Christ formation,
Holy Spirit inspired,
God, the Father unknown,

You
and
I
Alone.

Lord,
I have,
Nowhere,
Nothing at all,
Nihility,
Annihilated,
Wanderlust,
Disappearance,
Alienation,
Wounded,
Scarred,
Misgiving,
Mistrust,

Jesus,
I trust
in You,

To smash my heart,
To induce tears,
To heal my hurt through further hurting,
To strip me,
To leave me to waste,
To give me every chance to break,
Brittle and hard,
Fractured into little tiny pieces,
Scattered by the wind,

Arise
My Love,
Gather together,
Bring me in,
Infuse peace,
Teach wisdom,
Grant understanding,
Dispense purpose,
Allow multiplication,

All for Your glory,
Graces at stake,
And the fullness of pure joy,
At the foot of the Cross.

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A work in formation

Farewell discourse, Savior and disciples, walking, talking, traversing, not understanding, preparing,
Unification, many rooms in the Father’s house, Heaven adore, the plenty a splendor, eternity endeavor,
‘I have been with you for so long’, desolation not an option, mortification, accepting commandments, denying desire, failing,
Father, the Holy Spirit, the Word, obedience a haven, resource love, failures fading, a step back forward,
The passion consumes, while presuming nothing, advance slowly, intensely intent, crawling advent,
Do few things, yet do them well, listen, wait, confess, pray profusely, sweat yet not blood, communion, breathe, be still amid a beating heart,
‘Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid’,
Attending mass, attentive, aware,
‘Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day’,
‘In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety’,
‘As we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ’.

Receiving in the House of God, an unworthy servant blossoms into a friend,
In the world, inevitably disturbed, shaken, wolves in sheep clothing prey, leering, pridefully lusting, circumambulating, hunting while picking fresh meat from their teeth, yearning to be, hungry denial,
Needing, false teachers assume power, insincere profession, leading astray, pretense, exercising judgment betrayed, falling snowflakes into the fire, identity lost within damnation, misery adores company,
‘Rise let us go hence’, true teacher prevail, call in a clear voice, winged words in silence, usurp incessant noise, cessation, liberate identity, integrity graced,
Perfection a process, propagate, proliferate, prune the fruit in order to produce, multiply, magnify magnificence, sweet consolation not, a bitter reward,
Stand alone in order to fall, independence generate generational enslavement, movement of wickedness, self-will run riot, dominoes falling, affecting, an island despair produces waves,
Going out, weakness bemoans the need to assert, dependence creates abundant freedom, together a man speaks properly into himself, broadening understanding, decreasing to increase, a prisoner released from confinement,
Rise above the world, abiding in Christ, death and joy to be full, welcoming, inviting time, open, honest, and willing, preserve peace, the smiling heart of a suffering unity,
Friend and foe, charity prevail, the highest perfection, to be hated demands no reciprocation, suffocate wrath, dealing unselfishly, unassuming, natural and pure, simply discreet,
Be strong in unified individuality, proper identity, self-effacing, be a kind pretty face, comprehend, know who Christ is, know who I am, love others, behave, be good, holiness attain, reveal from within,
Abandon appetite attachment to advancing aspiration, banish brilliance, castaway cleverness, ‘A servant is not greater than his master’,
Humility the ultimate tool, the weapon of mass destruction, the annihilating force, the commingling of faith, hope, and charity, be humble, embrace criticism,
No reward, persecution presume, no accolades, adulate suffering, offering woe at the foot of the cross, witness bloody wounds, infuse blood and water,

(To be expanded throughout Holy Week)

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More pieces from T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’

There is no end, but addition: the trailing
Consequence of further days and hours,
While emotion takes to itself the emotionless
Years of living among the breakage
Of what was believed in as the most reliable-
And therefore the fittest for renunciation.

There is the final addition, the failing
Pride or resentment at failing powers,
The unattached devotion which might pass for devotionless,
In a drifting boat with a slow leakage,
The silent listening to the undeniable
Clamour of the bell of the last annunciation.

Church Bells ringing

–Sweet unction: dedicated to Ann Marie Najjar

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Unrequited Expression

Sound and vision, harsh realities assailing, dismal moon shadows cast unrepentant, undefined images, the heart,
A harp, Nick Cave play a piano song for me, reverberate sadness, create space within distance, nowhere stand, abstain,
Tell a glaring tale of a starring man wounded walking, debilitating distraction, unable to reach beneath, pluck the cello, pull the trigger, the badlands
The startling totality of dead wanting, longing, hypnotic chord strumming, desiring hollowness, echoed knocking, a grain falling, waving past the nonreflecting, a banjo twang, a toothless grin, a retart incestuous and vain, all things beautiful,
Lord, I want to live a life full, the world a wonder, arms around wrapping, adventure, satiation, a stallion, a thousand drums beating,
Beyond banality, beyond lacking, beyond attracting, beyond detachment, beyond profound expression,
Beyond being right, beyond being wrong, beyond creating, beyond being, emotionally asunder, an intentional blunder, a heart broken,
A kiss of recognition, existential and underground, emotionally capitulating, amiss a mass of intentions gone awry, mistaken identity, the knot tightens,
Capturing it all in a look of resignation unseen by all, false impressions, rejection of rejection, a palpable negation, identity tossed aside,
Silently and still, efficacious, waiting upon my Man,
An aftermath, vast experiencing, knowing not needing to conceive, finality, darkness, concluding discourse, finishing fate,
My Man paining upon a cross, forgiving all cost, pierced, flooding blood and water, holy wine, holy water,
He saunters past undetected, striding, standing beyond seven feet tall, nose to the wind, focus afar, breathing slow, sackcloth and ashes,
Listen, He approaches,
Divine mercy, He loves,
Resurrected, assumption, sitting He waits,
The Eucharist.

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Into Being

Kidnapped, taken away to a foreign land,
Whisked away, nothing an origin,
Power immense, lacking insight,
Strange sights, strange people,
Poking, prodding, engaging, nodding,
Pleasure and pain, feelings,
Sight and emotions, aware,
Contemplating, thinking,
There in a moment, ordinary
A locked glance, common,
Confirming, all things shared,
Nothing recognized, alien,
Abnormal amidst the normal,
Time and movement, experience,
I am a family man.

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Slowly Transcending the Original

Perfection discipline,
Say ‘no’ to myself,
Abnegation diminutive,
A denied phrase,
A brilliant thought reduced,
A tongue tamed,
A beautiful thing erased,
A friendly smile unpursued,
A twinkling eye left in reverse,
A beaming countenance subdued,
Innocence, appeal heavenly directed,
Practicing on into the greater,
Energy preserved,
Battles immense,
Long lasting, eternity rest
Submission of will,
Beautify, make pretty,
Divine, simplicity shine,
The path of progression provide,
Strength,
Graces a plenty,
Others and many,
Judgement and finality,
Be merciful and kind.

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