Fields

For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
Isaiah 2:1-5

Give us the strength to bend our swords,

to set the iron in the forge

and let it soften, melting down

to serve at last the barren ground.



The fields we trampled into mud

mixed with the spilling rain of blood,

oh, let us turn and plow instead,

that broken men may break the bread.



All summer, let the weeping fall

to nurture green shoots growing tall

and heal what we had once despoiled,

so to renew the weary soil.



And when at last the harvest comes

let trumpets sound—but not the drums,

and silent stay the rusted guns—

so may on earth thy will be done.



Our bows and arrows, spears and knives

become the sickles and the scythes

that gather, as the fields come ripe,

the firstfruits of the seed that died.



And when at last we see your light,

oh, may you meet us doing right,

not wasting what was sacrificed

but tending to your fields, O Christ.

Study of a man pushing a plow By Félicien Rops – This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60848007

Filled

From height to depth his mercy stretched;

from east to west, forgiveness etched.



The Ancient One spins moon and sun—

All spent and done is new begun.



All tired and worn shall be reborn,

with all before shall greet the morn.



And all who weep or vigil keep

shall wake bonedeep, no more to sleep.



For then, like dew, Christ comes anew;

if weep you do, he weeps with you.



The one who dies beneath his skies

dies with the Christ, with him to rise.



Then break, my heart; fall well apart

to find your start in heaven's dart.



And wake new-gilt when weeping's stilled,

the earth he built with mercy filled.



All depth and height, east, west, past sight,

all filled with light, all filled with Christ.

G CIEL 1_025 Nicole Oresme, *Le livre du Ciel et du Monde,* Paris, BnF, Manuscrits, Fr. 565, f. 69 (1377) By Original art, Nicole Oresme (artist unknown); Scan, Bibliothèque National de France; Current file, SteveMcCluskey – This file has been extracted from another file, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1602683

Watch

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
Mark 13:33-37

Awake my heart, O Lord,

for I have been asleep,

but now the night is creeping toward

the watch that I must keep.



And touch my weary eyes:

The sun has long gone down,

and I must wait a new star's rise,

outshining even dawn.



You, sun of justice, rose,

and oh! your day was bright!

You went as every evening goes;

now we wait out the night.



For day will come again

a shining, searing blaze:

the presence of the Great Amen,

light thrown on all our ways.



A day without an end,

a night without a dawn,

where day and night abide as friends

and all our fear is gone.



Then wake my heart, O Lord;

let me not miss that light 

but keep me ever yearning toward

your glory in the night.

Il Cristo Redentore By Melozzo da Forlì (attributed) – http://www.piosodaliziodeipiceni.it/img/24sede.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43654623

Christ the Soldier

Another one based on Jesus Through Medieval Eyes, though I take this in a little different direction, a Soldier instead of a Knight:

The strife is o'er, the battle done;

our victor weeps for all he's won

who suffer still beneath the sun. Lord, have mercy!



Lord, have mercy!

Christ, have mercy!

Lord, have mercy!



Bravely he triumphed in our wars,

his glory brighter than the stars.

Yet he will ever bear the scars of his mercy.



All you embattled, come to him;

beneath his banner's shadow dim

respite for weary hearts and limbs.  Feel his mercy.



For he knows well your struggles here;

he feels your anguish and your fear.

Through all your pain, he still draws near in his mercy.



Soldiers, we follow in his steps,

loyal until our dying breath.

Our only enemy is death. Lord, have mercy!



And as we battle on once more,

let us remember Christ our Lord,

who triumphs yet.  The strife is o'er in his mercy.

Knight illustration from the Westminster Psalter, Westminster, second quarter of the 13th century; BL Royal MS 2.A.xxii, f. 220r.

King

The king shall come when morning dawns,
a barefoot king uncrowned.
With all his pomp and glory gone,
he walks the dusty ground.

We wanted triumph over all,
a mighty king and strong!
But he is small as seeds are small;
his patience, though, is long.

A king to judge the wicked ones,
to vindicate the good:
He takes the evil we have done
and drowns it in his blood.

A king to conquer every foe—
his enemy is death!
And where he plants his flag, it grows!
Its base has pierced his breast.

Then, with the world beneath his feet
and when all heads are bowed,
he takes his lordship of all things
and gives it up to God.

The king shall come confound our ways,
his lasting peace to bring.
Lift hands and voices high in praise
of Christ, the barefoot king!

Christ in Majesty with the symbols of the Evangelists, stone relief, south portal, Benedictine monastery at Innichen, South Tyrol By ich – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2905170

On the Ground

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
Matthew 25:31-46

How shall I see the Son of Man
descending on the clouds
if seeing him has not begun
down here amid the crowds?

If eye's not seen and ear's not heard
his voice from day to day,
how can I hear the living Word
or see what he will say?

Good Shepherd, touch my ears to hear—
O, heal me if you will—
your quiet voice through loudest fears,
for you are speaking still.

Give me a spark to light my lamp:
Let my blind eyes have sight
to search for you here where I stand—
or make my darkness bright.

Give me the courgae that I need
to seek where you are found,
to shelter you, to clothe and feed
and serve you on the ground.

To love you here and now, my Lord,
with love you first have giv'n,
to see your glory shining forth
on earth as 'tis in heav'n.

Tympan central du Portail Royal de la cathédrale de Chartres: Christ en gloire dans une mandorle. By Vassil – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6349219

Road

Lord, let my soul be in your hands
that hold the caverns of the earth,
that cradle seas and skies and lands.
Oh, cradle me as I go forth.

The road I'm on is dark and long
and leads me through the shadow vale—
but still a line across your palm.
Oh, bring me where the shadows pale.

I stumble, Lord.  I fail and fall.
I lie down on the ground and weep.
Give strength to get up after all,
grace deeper than despair is deep.

And mercy, Lord, above all else,
beyond forgiveness' settled debts.
Not for my sins, but for myself, 
grant mercy's ever gentle breath.

That when this road has found its end
beyond all valleys, flats, and peaks,
I may be still within your hand,
found there before the face I seek.

U.S. Route 95 in Churchill County, Nevada, is an example of a typical two-lane, bi-directional road found throughout the rural areas of the United States that are designed for light traffic. By Famartin – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39452786

Perfect

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48

God, how shall I be perfect
as your perfection calls
whose light strikes mead and desert,
who makes the rain to fall?

To love who sins against me,
who wounds me, then to bless,
as you have loved your enemies,
as you have loved myself?

Can anyone fulfill this?
For who can be like God?
You, you alone can do it—
unless you touch our hearts.

Unless you heal that hardness
that turns all hope to fear,
unless in love you pardon us
and touch our eyes and ears.

Have mercy on my blindness,
though you are God Who Sees,
and in your loving kindness
have mercy, too, on me.

And let me, too, have mercy;
let me hear those who call.
Your rain falls on the thirsting;
your light shines on us all.

Rain near the village Lunde, The north of Funen, Denmark by Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=276654

Buried

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.’
Matthew 25:14-30

Give me the courage now, O Lord,
before you come, before that day,
to dig up what in fear I hoard
and scatter it along my way.

To drag my coins into the light,
to dig up all my buried gold,
before you come, a thief at night:
Give me the courage to be bold,

to take the little that I have
and not to bury but to plant—
to share what I would rather save
and let it fall from open hands.

And if it all should go from me,
if nothing to my hand returns,
then am I in good company,
for you came here with nothing first.

But let it be a mustard seed
that you have planted in my soul:
Oh, let it grow and let it spread
to something better far than gold.

And what I harvest, let me sow
that others may yet gather more,
and let your bounty grow and grow
that all may feast with you, O Lord.

The Parable of the Talents, depicted by artist Andrei Mironov. Oil on canvas, 2013 By Андрей Николаевич Миронов (A.N. Mironov) – Own work, Andrey Mironov See also ticket:2015070410013036http://artmiro.ru/photo/religija_zhanrovaja_kartina/pritcha_o_talantakh/4-0-398, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30528194

The Lover

My love is mine and I am his
who kneels to bathe my feet,
who stoops with heaven in his kiss,
and oh, his kiss is sweet.

I am my love's and he is mine,
for he has given all
to let his love about me twine
when in the dark I fall.

There where the sun has turned away
and gone are all the stars,
my only light is in his gaze,
my only hope his arms.

And so I cling about his heart;
he sets me like a seal
upon his breast, upon his arm,
and clings to me as well.

Thuswise, until the morning comes,
he is my heart itself,
my courage 'til the break of dawn,
my comfort and my rest.

Then let that darkness fall again,
a veil upon the world;
within his arms, my refuge then,
ever shall I lie curled.

Józef Mehoffer – Serce Jezusa 1930 By Józef Mehoffer – http://www.polswissart.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126863843