Poetry, more so than prose, has the uncanny ability to
engage our lives. Poetry will challenge us and force us to reflect on the
assumptions upon which we have built our world. This is especially true about
religious poetry. Two of the most significant, modern religious poets are
Denise Levertov and Mary Oliver. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, I give you
two poems that Mary Oliver wrote about the Annunciation.
ANNUNCIATION
To the impossible: Yes!
Enter and penetrate
O Spirit. Come and bless
This hour: the star is late.
Only the absurdity of love
Can break the bonds of hate.
AFTER ANNUCIATION
This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.
As Christmas draws near, may the Spirit enter and
penetrate our lives with the absurdity of love that destroys all hate and
death. May we be filled with the same irrational impulse to welcome, as Mary
did, the Child of God into our lives.
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Deacon Bob
I am a composer, performer, poet, educator, spiritual director, and permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I just recently retired after 42 years of full-time ministry in the Catholic Church. I continue to serve in the Church part-time. I have been blessed to be united in marriage to my bride, Ruth, since 1974. I am father to four wonderful adult children, and grandfather to five equally wonderful grandchildren. In my lifetime, I have received a B.A. in Music (UST), M.A. in Pastoral Studies (St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, UST), Certified Spiritual Director. Ordained to the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, in 1991. Composer, musician, author, poet, educator. The Gospels drive my political choices, hence, leading me toward a more liberal, other-centered politics rather than conservative politics. The great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, as well as the criteria he gives in Matthew 25 by which we are to be judged at the end of time directs my actions and thoughts.
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