Love

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
—1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Give me love's patience, Lord my God,
when mine is wearing thin,
and let it whisper in my heart 
that I have been forgiv'n,
and then love's kindness I will learn
and love's humility
when I have known you will not turn
your love away from me.

Give me the love that hopes all things
when fear says hope is gone,
that knows the Spirit spreads bright wings
o'er every coming dawn,
that bears all things and still believes
that we can be made new,
that can endure the world of griefs
and still rejoice in you.

Beyond all I desire or need,
far, far above all else,
this greatest mercy grant to me:
Give me your very self.
You are the source of all my hope;
you are the end thereof.
All other things are but to know
that you, O God, are love.

Christ Child in the Sacred Heart, Between 1475 and 1480, By Anonymous – https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.3738.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62473824

Hold Fast

O God, who made the mountains firm,
the earth not to be moved,
when we are shaken by the storm,
oh, shelter us in you.

The mountains bow to winds above;
the hills wear down at last.
Help us to hold fast to the love
that always holds us fast.

The seas that held beneath your feet
or stood as walls of waves,
are rising up now, swift and steep,
to carry us away.

Upon their peaks or in their depths
or swallowed by the whale:
Wherever we shall find ourselves,
your love will find us there.

What mother could forsake her child
or father could forget?
But if they did, our hopes, our lives,
would be in your hands yet.

Though we may walk through fire and flood,
through want and pain and fear,
oh, let us hold fast to your love
and find you ever near!

Mount Everest, Earth’s highest mountain By I, Luca Galuzzi, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1810976

New Commandment

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.

—John 15:9-17

Lord, you gave a new commandment,
laid your life down for your friends.
All our questions had one answer:
Love each other to the end.

Oh, but loving is a labor:
We are willing; we are weak.
In the service of our neighbor,
where, Lord, is the rest we seek?

Shepherd, lead us to still waters
where our hearts may be refreshed.
Shelter all your sons and daughters
as we come to break the bread.

There you lay your yoke upon us.
When we make our sacrifice
for the ones you put before us,
we will find the burden light.

We will find in you our comfort
as we labor in your name,
for you work with us, our brother,
that our loves may be the same.

When we turn to serve each other,
filling hands and washing feet,
when we love as you have loved us,
then our joy will be complete.

Tacuina sanitatis (XIV century) 5-alimenti, acqua calda,Taccuino Sanitatis, Casanatense 418 By unknown master – book scan, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1638829

Not Enough

I give you all I have, O Lord,
the wine that filled my cup,
the dregs beyond the drops I poured—
but it was not enough.

I give you all that I can be,
the stuff I'm knitted of,
unravelled all the threads of me—
but it was not enough.

Enough to make a good return
for all that you have done.
The world, the flesh, the devil spurned—
but it was not enough.

I broke my heart, give you the bits,
the shards of all my love,
for there is nothing left but this.

O child, there never was.

Birdoswald roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall. “This case shows something of the range of pottery used by the Roman soldiers whilst serving on Hadrian’s Wall. Different types of pot had different uses in the same way that we have metal pans, ceramic plates and china mugs. Like today, the army in the Roman period had military contracts with certain suppliers. Some pottery manufacturers in Britain took advantage of this system and would have made large profits.” By Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33765158

The Love That Knows and Names the Stars

Riffing on some lines from Psalm 147:

The love that knows and names the stars
aflame in heaven's dome
stoops down to heal our broken hearts
and bring the exiles home.

We left behind us shattered walls
and empty, aching rooms;
love gathers us into its arms
to bear us from our tombs.

Secure and safe the house it builds
where we can dwell in peace,
and long the table love has filled,
and calls us to the feast.

And we, who lived on what we scrounged
or morsels we had begged,
sit down where bread and wine abound
and are not sent away.

For love has heard the raven's prayers
and filled the earth with food,
has known us even to our hairs,
and gives us what is good.

As if we were the very stars,
love knows and calls our names.
With its own light, love fills our hearts
and joys to see our flames.

The image is from the European Space Agency. It is listed as the LH 95 star forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image was taken using the Hubble Space Telescope. By ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8788068

If I Have Words

If I have words, they'll silent fall;
if I have deeds, they'll crack and rust.
If I have love, then I have all,
though all I love will come to dust.

The morning light that is my hope
will blaze to noon and fade to night.
The darkness where you hold me close
will fall in time to morning's light.

But there will come unfading day,
and there will come unyielding night,
and we will see you face to face
when night and day are shining bright.

Until they come, no more to pass,
you, Lord, alone are permanent.
So while we fade, let us hold fast
to love outshining firmaments.

That by its guiding star, we walk,
and when it's hidden, still we hope;
that in the day or in the dark
we have a way; we have a home.

We spring up as the grasses here
and fade away ere evening comes,
but over us one star shines clear,
and we will blossom where it burns.

A 45-minute exposure photo of stars around Polaris, taken at Ehrenburg (Franconia, Germany), September 8, 2001 By Udo Kügel – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=929549

The Day Is Coming In a Blaze

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays.
Malachi 3:19-20a

The day is coming in a blaze,
as sure as stars will turn;
the sun will rise with healing rays,
and oh! How we will burn!

Our lives will kindle into flames
the Spirit's breath will fan,
devouring all our varied shames,
and how the sparks will dance!

But some shall burn for cruel rage,
and some love shall ignite,
yet all shall know themselves unchanged
within the furnace bright.

Christ Jesus, I don't want to burn,
for life is hurt enough,
but if I must to cinders turn,
then let it be for love!

Let me not kindle hatred's fire
or take delight in pain.
Let not an unjust thirst for ire
consume my heart again!

But when it comes, that day of days,
O Christ, when you return
to set the waiting world ablaze,
for love, then, let me burn!

An outdoor wood fire By Fir0002 – Originally uploaded to the English Wikipedia here by the author, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11904

Hold Fast to What You Know

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins.
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

My child, hold fast to what you know
through worlds of mystery:
The seed into the ground must go;
the river to the sea.
The sacrifice goes on the pyre;
the ash flies on the wind,
then water quenches flaming fire
and alms atone for sins.

The rich and mighty hold their sway;
the oxen pulls the plow,
but still the poor will have their day
and kings to time will bow.
Then love your neighbor as yourself
and worship God alone,
for flowing streams the flames will quench
and alms for sin atone.

The seed will spring up from the ground;
the seas will fall as rain.
The sun will rise and then go down,
and we will live again.
The sacrifice upon the pyre
will rise and lead us home,
as streams of mercy quench the fire
and living waters flow.

The Altar of Incense, Altar of Burnt-Offering, and Laver from the biblical Tabernacle; illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible By illustrators of the 1890 Holman Bible – http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/altarofincensealtarofburnt-offeringlaver.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9424389

The Word Himself

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:25-37

“For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you should say,
‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,
‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”
Deuteronomy 30:10-14

In him were made all things,
of heaven and of earth;
all thrones and pow'rs, unseen and seen,
in Christ they have their birth.

He wrote them in the world—
all being is his book—
and signed his name on every scroll
when goodness said, “'Tis good.”

Not lost across the sea
or taken to the skies,
but printed here in everything
it meets our wond'ring eyes:

the letters of his name,
the spelling of his laws,
in every heart is writ the same
and spills from every mouth.

The Word himself is love:
It's stamped into our bones,
and through our flesh and blood it moves,
and from our hands it flows.

We need not wander far,
for he has come so near
and pressed himself upon our hearts,
the Word we always hear.

In this folio from the 6th-century Rossano Gospels, the cross-bearing halo around the Good Samaritan’s head indicates an allegorical interpretation. The first scene includes an angel. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=314328

Jerusalem, Be Joyful

Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them as their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.”
The One who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:1-5a

Jerusalem in mourning,
a widow's tale did tell,
but now in bride's adorning,
has love with her to dwell.

And he will stay forever,
her groom for all her days.
No more will they be severed,
for death has passed away.

The bridegroom in his glory
is making all things new.
He tells another story:
“Go, love as I've loved you!”

Now every king's a servant,
and all the world's a bride,
because a new commandment
the older world rewrites.

A newer earth and heaven
have sprung up in his wake,
and they will bloom wherever
we love for his love's sake.

Jerusalem, be joyful
and let him enter in:
The king of glory joins you!
The feast of love begins!