when i saw my own weakness
my inability to free myself
i cried out to the moon and the stars
and to every living being
to extend their loving mercy toward me
the trees dropped their leaves on me
the wind kissed me with her breath
the moon sat with me in silence
and the stars prayed for me
and mary held my hand
against her extended belly
-sally mcgill
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12 comments:
A beautiful poem. But isn't it an Advent poem?!
yes
"advent" was my title for the poem
actually that was the second title
the original title was
"confiteor"
because it was written (during advent)
in a state of confession
asking all of creation
to pray for me
inspired by the confiteor:
i confess
to almighty God
and to you my brothers and sisters
that i have sinned
in my thoughts
and in my words
in what i have done
and in what i have failed to do
and i ask you blessed mary ever virgin
all the angels and saints
and you my brothers and sisters
to pray for me to the Lord our God
at least that's how i remember it
Sally—
Again, this is a beautiful poem. Thank you! Advent gets lost in Christmas, and it is wonderful to see an authentic Advent perspective. A fourth-Sunday of Advent perspective.
I assume you're Roman Catholic. I am Lutheran. I'm impressed, as I often am, by how much authentic Catholic sentiment resonates with a Lutheran sensibility. I hope the converse holds too. We do not emphasize Mary in the way Catholics do, but this poem is something that we can hold, too. And the confiteor is recognizably antecedent to our public confession, and I didn't know this before.
Sometimes, the gap seems so large. This poem, and your comments, makes it feel so much more narrow.
Peace.
thanks stu
actually
i'm not catholic
at least not officially
though i am honored to be
mistaken for one
my background is mostly in
non-demoninational evangelical churches
though i suppose it has been
over 10 years now that i have been
a member of a small presbyterian church
we never had much if any
recognition of advent in the evangelical church
and certainly not mary
omg that would be idolatry!
about seven years ago i went on
a retreat at a benedictine monastery
near our home
primarily out of a sort of desperation
at how my life had gotten out of control
workaholism and conflict with a co-worker
it was an eye-opener to see
another way of life at the monastery
a life oriented by prayer
i guess the benedictine motto
is prayer and work
ora et labora
but the refreshing thing
is that the work is subordinate
to prayer
when the bell rings for prayer
the monks put down whatever they are doing
and gather together in the chapel
what a novel concept
that something else could be
important enough
for me to put down my work
at a designated time
rather than letting everything else
in my life be put on hold
until i finished whatever project
had taken hold of me
i think another thing that appealed to me
at the monastery was the fact
that
there were smart people there
who had chosen to dedicate their life to God
i found there an open, honest
engagement with the gospel
on both an intellectual level
and as a lived life
i had not seen that anywhere else
i credit my dad
with raising us kids
to be open-minded
i think that helped me to not
go along with the anti-catholic rhetoric
that occasionally raises its head
in the evangelical church
it was actually a greek orthodox woman
who helped me to understand
that mary and the saints
are people whom we can ask to pray for us
just as we would ask any other friend
to pray for us
i don't do that very often
but i can see how it could be
very meaningful to some
and sometimes it is to me too
heck if i can ask
the trees or the moon
to pray for me
i can surely ask
mary to pray for me
and i can take comfort
in the promise of salvation
that she bears in her womb
(sorry for making such
a long reply!)
oh and i accidentally left out
"through my own fault"
after "i have sinned"
in the confiteor
i wonder what that slip
says about me
negligence such as that might have
techtonic proportions
be careful
i also noticed just now
that i said i spent much of
my early christian life in
"nondemoninational" evangelical churches
yep we certainly had
no demons in those churches
in fact
we were instructed
in how to cast out demons
john wimber told a story
of how he once commanded a demon
in the name of jesus
to leave a disturbed person
the demon responded:
jesus i know
but who are you?
tricky stuff
this fighting of demons
perhaps the ancient monks
had a better handle on it
demons have been flitting about
since the beginning
the desert monks
took it seriously
i have no doubts about their power
and none about my need in the effort to
keep them at bay
at least distracted
sometimes you have to entertain them a little
and then
kapow right between the eyes
with a hail mary
the jh school
of spiritual martial arts
i like it
we were taught
and i think there is some truth to this
that the demons really go after
those who are getting especially close
to following God's will
you know, missionaries and the like
somebody who is doing something
"important" for God
it kind of made me think
that maybe i should lay low
fly under the radar
try not to attract too much attention
who me?
i'm just a nominal christian
nothing important going on here
no point in wasting your time on me
does god lead us into temptation ever?
that has been a question about the
lord's prayer i've had for years
mercy for the fallen lord
mercy for the fallen
jh
i've never really thought about
that question
certainly God leads us
and certainly there are temptations
along the way
perhaps it is all a part of free will
the allowance of freedom
means that there will
inherently be temptations
that don't necessarily come directly from God
but that are present because
God
allows a certain latitude of freedom
to his creatures
perhaps Jesus directs us to pray
that God would lead us past
the inevitable temptations
that we might otherwise
stumble into
i like that
lead us past
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