VINE AND BRANCHES

                             The Vine and the Branches

                                                                  

“I am the trusty Vine,

And you my Branches are.

Blest be he who adheres to me:

A branch that spreads afar.

True Vine am I;

So will you be,

If you but cling to me.

But more than cling,

For I shall bring

The sap that fructifies

That branch of mine,

To give sweet wine

For life that never dies.

Whichever branch that bears much fruit

My Father will renew

To feed my sheep more plenti’ly,

And bind them to the root.”

O Holy Vine, O Jesu Lord,

We love and cling to you.

O prune our hearts

And cleanse our minds,

And teach us how to bear you;

That men may taste and savour sweet

Your wine of truth and love,

And praise the Dresser of that Vine

He planted from above.

Amen.

MOTHER'S MONUMENT

 

MOTHER’S MONUMENT

A priest one day made his weary way

Into a graveyard where his mother lay;

And scarcely had he reached the humble mound

Than tears rolled down to bless the hallowed ground.

Beside the humble grave the priest then knelt

To tell the sorrow his heart then felt.

Full many a messenger of sorrow went

To make excuse that yet no monument

Stood guardian o’er his sweet mother’s head,

To honour her who lay among the dead.

And then a voice came gently from the tomb:

“My monument was builded in my womb;

My greatest laurels, greatest praises were won,

The hour when thou became my priestly son.

Go, then, my son, and never more lament

That o’er my grave stands no monument;

For all the souls in heav’n whom thou hast sent

For e’er proclaim thee as my monument.”

                                      

LORD, BE IN ME

PEACEFUL AND RELAXED

Peaceful and relaxed, no strain.

Gentle breathing and calm.

Placid as the glass on the lake.

Deep as the water in the ocean.

The pure air surrounding the earth.

Pure expectation.

Let the Divine Word descend,

peaceful, into this water, this air.

Fill the sky, for that is what

my heart is:

real, peaceful and profound.

Let the Real enter the real,

the deep enter Deep,

and peace absorbed in Peace.

In this union I am enabled

to say a blessing, a fond benediction:

"Blessed are You, my dearest Lord.

Enter and take possession of your

ocean, your air and sky.

Be yourself in them,

relax and have no doubt

about your welcome.

No questions, no complaints,

no petitions today.

Here there are no reservations,

no restrictions,

no hint of overstaying your welcome.

Recline or walk where you will -

this estate is all yours.

So feel free.

Just be Yourself.

Lord, be...

in me.

JOY NOW - MORE HEREAFTER

JOY NOW, MORE HEREAFTER

Unworthy, sin-ladenly unworthy is how I feel

as even so much as dare I think divinity.

But heavier than the weight of sin is

that of glory, charging my soul, empowering my mind,

to make enablement their boast,

divinely dispensed and humbly received.

To think on my Lord, the Master of my life,

and thinking, emboldened be to state with joy

that He is all: the End of my becoming

and the purpose of my making.

So even were there not an aeon

to expand this thinking thought unlimited,

the narrow compass of my life

allows near stated joy in the comprehension:

that my heart has comes to love Whom

my mind has also come to know,

and in the knowing and the loving

to rejoice that this is how He made me!

Will that suffice?

Yes, but Oh! He grants me

the assurance that there will be

expansion of infinite proportion

to live in Him in love

and know unendingly the joy

of ever deeper commingling 

of my being in His

and His in mine.

Will that suffice?