Psalms of Trust: Psalm 24

Psalm 24

The earth is God’s and all that is in it, 
     the world and all who dwell therein.
For it is God who founded it upon the seas
     and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.
“Who can ascend the hill of the Most High,
     and who can stand in God’s holy place?”
“Those who have clean hands and a pure heart,
     who have not pledged themselves to falsehood,
     nor sworn by what is a fraud.
They shall receive a blessing from the Holy One
     and a just reward from the God of their salvation.”
Such is the generation of those who seek God,
     of those who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

     Lift up your heads, O gates;
lift them high, O everlasting doors,
     and the One who reigns in glory shall come in.
“Who is this who reigns in glory?”
     “The Holy One, strong and mighty,
     the Holy One, mighty in battle.”

     Lift up your heads, O gates;
lift them high, O everlasting doors,
     and the One who reigns in glory shall come in.

--from the St Helena Psalter

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The earth is the Lord's and everything in it,
     the world and its inhabitants, too.
Because God is the one who establshed it on the seas;
     God set it firmly on the waters.

Who can ascend the Lord's mountain?
     Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart;
     the one who hasn't made false promises.
     the one who hasn't sworn dishonestly.
That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord
     and righteousness from the God who saves.
And that's how things are
     with the generation that seeks him--
     that seeks the face of Jacob's God.

Mighty gates: lift up your heads!
Ancient doors: rise up high!
    So the glorious king can enter!
Who is this glorious king?
     The Lord-- strong and powerful!
     The Lord-- mighty in battle!
Mighty gates: lift up your heads!
Ancient doors: rise up high!
    So the glorious king can enter! 
Who is this glorious king?
The Lord of heavenly forces--
     he is the glorious king!

-- from the Common English Bible

A Dakota Prayer

Grandfather, Great Spirit, you have been always, and before you nothing has been, there is no one to pray to but you. The star nations all over the heavens are yours, and yours are the grasses of the earth. You are older than all need, older than all pain and prayer.

Grandfather, Great Spirit, look upon your children, [the Spirit Lake Oyate,] that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet.

Grandfather, Great Spirit, fill us with the light, give us with the light. Give us the strength to understand and eyes to see. Teach us to walk the soft earth, as relatives, to all that live.

Help us, for without you we are nothing.

-- from the Spirit Lake Tribe, found on dailyoffice.wordpress.com, posted by my friend Josh Thomas this morning.

God's Word is in all Creation

No creature has meaning

without the Word of God.

God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.

The Word is living, being,

spirit, all verdant

all creativity.

This Word flashes out in

every creature.

This is how the spirit is in

the flesh – the Word is indivisible from God.


--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1197), German mystic poet and religious


Photo: love locks on a bridge in Barcelona, 2016

Psalms of Trust: Psalm 23

Psalm 23

The Holy One is my shepherd;
     I shall not be in want.
You make me lie down in green pastures
     and lead me beside still waters. 
You revive my soul
     and guide me along right pathways
     for the sake of your Name.
Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil;
     for you are with me;
     your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You spread a table before me
in the presence of those who trouble me;
     you have anointed my head with oil,
     and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
     and I will dwell in the house of God for ever.

--from the St. Helena Psalter

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The Lord is my shepherd;
     I lack nothing.
He lets me rest in grassy meadows;
     he leads me to restful waters;
     he keeps me alive.
He guides me in proper paths
     for the sake of his good name.
Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger because you are with me.
     Your rod and your staff--
     they protect me.
You set a table before me
     right in front of my enemies,
You bathe my head in oil;
     my cup is so full it spills over!
Yes, goodness and faithful love
     will pursue me all the days of my life,
     and I will live in the Lord's house
     as long as I live.

-- from the Common English Bible


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Yahweh is my shepherd,
     I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
     By tranquil streams he leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice
     as befits his name.
Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death
     I should fear no danger, for you are at my side.
     Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.
You prepare a table for me before the eyes of my enemies;
     you anoint my head with oil;
     my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love pursue me
every day of my life.
     I make my home in the house of Yahweh
     for all time to come.

-- from  the Revised New Jerusalem Bible

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The Lord is my shepherd
     I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
     he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
     he leadeth me along right pathways for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
     I shall fear no evil: for thou art with me;
     thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
     thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
     and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

-- from the Authorized King James Version

Psalms of Trust: Psalm 20

Psalm 20

May the Most High answer you in the day of trouble,
     the Name of the God of Jacob defend you;
Send you help from the holy place
     and strengthen you out of Zion;
Remember all your offerings
     and accept your burnt sacrifice;
Grant you your heart’s desire
     and prosper all your plans.
We will shout for joy at your victory
and triumph in the Name of our God;
     may the Most High grant all your requests.
Now I know that God gives victory to the anointed one;
     out of the holy heaven God will answer,
     with a strong and victorious right hand.
Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses,
     but we will call upon the Name of our God.
They collapse and fall down,
     but we will arise and stand upright.
O God, give victory to our sovereign, 
     and answer us when we call.

--From the St. Helena Psalter

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I pray that the Lord answers you whenever you are in trouble
     Let the name of Jacob's God protect you.
Let God send help to you from the sanctuary
     and support you from Zion.
Let God recall your many grain offerings;
     let him savor entirely your burnt offerings.
Let God grant what is in your heart
     and fulfill entirely all your plans.
Then we will rejoice that you have been helped.
     We will fly our flags in the name of our God.
     Let the Lord fulfill all your requests!
Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed one;
     God answers his anointed one from his heavenly sanctuary,
     answering with mighty acts of salvation
          achieved by his strong hand.
Some people trust in chariots, others in horses;
     but we will praise the Lord's name.
They will collapse and fall,
     but we will stand up straight and strong.
Lord, save the king!
     Let him answer us when we cry out!

--From the Common English Bible

In Silence

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your

name.
Listen
to the living walls.

Who are you?
Who
are you? Whose
silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
are you (as these stones
are quiet). Do not
think of what you are
still less of
what you may one day be.

Rather
be what you are (but who?)
be the unthinkable one
you do not know.

O be still, while
you are still alive,
and all things live around you

speaking (I do not hear)
to your own being,
speaking by the unknown
that is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like them
to be my own silence:
and this is difficult. The whole
world is secretly on fire. The stones
burn, even the stones they burn me.
How can a man be still or 
isten to all things burning?
How can he dare to sit with them
when all their silence is on fire?”


--Thomas Merton (Father Louis) (1915-1968) American Trappist monk, mystic, contemplative, and writer

Antiphon for the Angels

Spirited light! on the edge
of the Presence your yearning
burns in the secret darkness,
O angels, insatiably
into God’s gaze.
Perversity could not touch your beauty;
you are essential joy.
But your lost companion,
angel of the crooked
wings – he sought the summit,
shot down the depths of God
and plummeted past Adam –
that a mud – bound spirit might soar.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German mystic poet and religious, translated by Barbara Newman, from Women in Praise of the Sacred (ed. by Jane Hirshfield), 2016

Hope

Hope is with you when you believe
The earth is not a dream but living flesh,
That sight, touch, and hearing do not lie,
That all thing you have ever seen here
Are like a garden looked at from a gate.

You cannot enter. But you’re sure it’s there.
Could we but look more clearly and wisely
We might discover somewhere in the garden
A strange new flower and an unnamed star.

Some people say that we should not trust our eyes,
That there is nothing, just a seeming,
There are the ones who have no hope.
They think the moment we turn away,
The world, behind our backs, ceases to exist,
As if snatched up by the hand of thieves.

-Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), Polish poet and diplomat


Photo: Paper cranes hang in the rear window of St. Augustine's Chapel at Vanderbilt University, 2016.

Expands His Being

All beings

are words of God,

His music, His

art.

Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps in our souls.

Every act reveals God and expands His being.

I know that may be hard

to comprehend.

All creatures are doing their best

to help God in His birth

of Himself.

Enough talk for the night.

He is laboring in me;

I need to be silent

for a while,

worlds are forming

in my heart.

--Meister Eckhart (ca 1260-ca 1328) German mystic, poet, theologian, and philosopher, from Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from East and West, ed. by Daniel Ladinsky

"In Heaven"

In Heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
"What did you do?"
Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate
The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind
Ashamed.
Presently God said:
"And what did you do?"
The little blade answered, "Oh my lord,
"Memory is bitter to me
"For if I did good deeds
"I know not of them."
Then God in all His splendor
Arose from His throne.
"Oh, best little blade of grass, " He said.

--Stephen Crane (1871-1900), in The Echoing Green: Poems of Fields, Meadows, and Grasses (2016)