Tag: Divine Mercy

Necessary

There is no necessary thing
in all that you have made—
the fletching of the finch's wing,
the dappled summer shade,
the ripples spreading in a ring
from where the herons wade—
You have no need of anything,
yet see how they're arrayed.

And if the little bird should fall,
the world, one sparrow less,
would notice none of it at all,
would suffer no distress.
But you who hear the sparrow's call
and paint its stippled dress,
who see in death its awkward sprawl,
hold it in tenderness.

I am no sparrow in your hand,
no ray of light that fell.
There is no height I can demand,
and I shall fall as well.
The only rock where I can stand
is you, my God, yourself,
who need me not—yet you command,
and in that grace I dwell.

Photo: Don Green By Channel City Camera Club from Santa Barbara, US – Stepping off, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106054518

Broken

Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:19-31
We know you in the broken bread,
the wounds in hands and feet,
as one who comes here from the dead:
This is the Christ we meet.

You come to us transformed by pain:
God's only Son is marked
and bearing now the sign of Cain,
revealing God's own heart.

From timelessness you entered time;
you took our blood and breath
to bring us into life divine—
but, oh, that road is death.

We know you by the way you took;
your body is the map.
Now through the sundered veil we look
across the mortal gap.

For you have bid us peer inside 
the wounds in hands and feet.
New mercies open to our eyes,
deep calling out to deep.

And Cain, whose offering was refused,
is comforted at last,
the wheat he gave is finally used
to break the ancient fast.

For Abel has forgiven all,
whose blood spoke from the ground.
Through it we hear the Shepherd call
and know that we are found.

“The incredulity of Thomas” from an English manuscript, c.1504 By Unknown author – This image is available from the National Library of WalesYou can view this image in its original context on the NLW Catalogue, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44920993