I am made whole in the Lord, Blessed be His Holy Name…
I love poetry. People who hear me say that might think that I am a little bit pretentious. After all, poetry – as opposed to prose, which is non-poetic writing, much like this blog – can be more dense and difficult to understand. And there is a legitimate reason for this. And the reason is NOT that the poet wishes to make life difficult for anyone. The reason is that the poet primarily wishes to convey an emotion rather than information. This is why a poem will use figurative language, like metaphors and similes, rhyme, rhythm and metre and vivid descriptions, among other things, to ensure that the feeling that they wish to convey is communicated.
I have only to think of some lovey religious poetry to be moved by the beauty of the words…
Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote beautiful poetry all her life and the more she suffered at the end of her life, the more poignant her poetry became…
“I fear no more thy majesty, so far removed above me, For I have suffered sore with thee: now hear me, Mother mild! Oh, let me tell thee face to face, dear Mary! how I love thee; And say to thee for evermore: I am Thy little child.”
And there is beautiful poetry in the Bible itself. I have only to think of the Psalms… “Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars!” (Psalm 148:3).
In his book, “Time for God”, Jacques Philippe writes at page 21, “Humility lies in peaceful acceptance of one’s own radical poverty, which leads people to place all their trust in God. Humble people, for whom God is everything, are happy to accept the fact that they are nothing. They don’t carry on about their wretchedness; they consider it a stroke of luck, since it gives God the chance to show how merciful he is.”
And I have been thinking about the beauty of the words that God gives us within which to praise Him. And it occurs to me today that those words and their power lies not in my strength, but in His. He inspires the words that I can string along together to give Him praise. He inspires my mind to dwell on Him. And He helps me when the temptation to give up and move away rests strongly in me.
And He does his – not because of my power – but because of my weakness. It is in the power of God that my voice can be heard, and it is through His power and His power alone that I can have the strength, not only to praise Him, but to speak of Him.
And when I stop and give thanks for that today, I am overcome. Because all that I am is from Him. I am made whole in the Lord, Blessed be His Holy Name…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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