THE DESOLATION
“Apart from Divine Life”
Blessed Necessity
Spoken order is enshrined in glades of Eden
A mulberry[1] delight strikes a pose amongst an endless fernery of possibilities
While trunking legs burrow a blissful stance on oblivious earthen heaps
Branching arms di-vine impregnant space to yield
Gracious leafy fertility that combat Adam-ant shame on the Eve of prosperity
Abounding plump mission fruits ooze with milky honey goodness
Endless harvests succumb to perpetuating winter bareness
Ignored and abandoned, willful, wretched, wickedness consumes growing possessions
Happy necessity taunts Sonless years darkened by insidious shadows of purposed inheritance
Sacrifice
Isaac’s altar tempered by fastidious faith ingratiates the glinting knife’s tremulous offering
Parades of idol wanderings pilfer heavenly invitations to feast at orgies of iniquity
Tradition belies the Law, and enacted freedom enslaves friendship as the Master of All
Passover moon ministerial misery gulps tempestuous anguish
as His tears of blood and sweat baptize dormant flowers
Hallowed promises dance with dreams of possibilities from ditching friends
Yes knows no limits as everything asked is given
God mounts His throne
Nails pierce wailing Truth and gloat in feigned defeat
Heaven and earth intersect to drown Jesus in a deluge of Mercy
Annihilation
Refused deadening wine placates parched lips while taunting insatiable suffering
Convulsions seize His brutalized body appeasing burning lungs robbed of breath and life
Guilt repented pleas court innocence and elicit a promise of heavenly remembrance
Temple and altar are conjoined, our hemorrhaging High Priest soaks the earth
with gorging streams of Mercy
Lurid lusting demons bludgeon innocent Mystical Flesh with infinite wounds of sin
Our Lamb of God cries His final bleat, dead to all, His scarlet filthy woolen coat discarded
His pierced heart drips and forms tidepools of Mercy swelling with tidal waves of Righteousness
Putrid jaws of death grind their blackholed unrelenting fangs
on smorgasbords of total sin
The story ends in its beginnings: severed Agape rejoins its Source
and explodes with Perfect endless Light
THE CONSOLATION
“Participation in Divine Life”
Mercy
Incredulous testy grumblings demand water – a rock is struck and assured Blessings
flow at Massah[2] and Meribah[3]
Fatigued hearkening, disempowers dissident Moses – his staff opposes the command to testify before the people to liberate rejuvenating waters[4]
The cleansing laws of Mivkah[5] reckon misappropriated thirst and herald anointing moments
of healing and wholeness
The time arrives: Jordan waters overflowing with repentance immerse the King of Glory’s body in
broken human affairs imploring communion
Jacob’s well invites the Samaritan woman to imbibe Living Waters and taste the Good Life
Dusty sin wearied feet are caressed by the gravity of Love and washed in the ministry of selfless service
Mercy eviscerates the bowels of sin tossing them into rivers and springs of Blood[6]
“For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”[7]
Death no more: crystal clear waters of Life run forever from the throne of God and the Lamb[8]
Healing
Breath of God descends and souls take root in maimed bodies of earthen doves
seeking nests of eternal peace
Crashing storms of lightening attack forest canopies with labyrinthing fiery snares…
pure white wings melt in thrashing black fits
Perjurious assertions must not concede defeat or flirt with death
Whimpering coos confess to banishing flights of torrid fancy
So grounded doves submit to bouts of mass silence
In mournful reverence and with abject honesty they sip from sweet cups of surrender
Mighty winds pick up, carrying prayerful tassels[9] of healing
The doves’ faith filled beaks reach for ingratiating threads of hanging hope
Reconciled – renewed – restored: the doves soar to new heights on Eagle Wings[10] to their ultimate destiny
Communion
A soulful string is plucked, and a note takes vibrating shape in a gapping void of sense and sound
Its fragile echo stretches to find its corresponding pitch below and above
A solitary note bellows with skipping ponderings as it gravitates to clustering accords
Notes in resounding affinities chortle discovered melodies
Words, memories, emotions, imaginings, meanings, and tempos converge into songs
Yet more is needed, and more is required, so mellifluous harmonies intone scrumptious ornamentations
Choruses of heavenly proportions enjoin the song lifting the music into a crescendo offering
New voices and instruments combine, capitulating layers of acclaiming richness
And a note becomes gloried music embodied in an ecstatic dance of communion
THE JUBILATION
“Unity in the Divine Life”
Joy
Our Blessed Mother readies a bedazzling bride burnished with the Blood of the Lamb
Her true beauty restored, the unveiled face of her soul radiates from the beaming
penetrating gaze of her Beloved
Light begets light in transfiguring Glory and Love interlocutes a momentous never-ending embrace
Hand in hand bride and Bridegroom enter the feast
Their infectious union intercedes a welcoming procession of happy guests
The bride takes a seat of precious prominence among tables lavished with “rich food and choice wines”[11]
Courses of satiating elation edify the bride and her King of Joy feeds her with His Goodness
Gifts galore present themselves unwrapping untold treasures that
“eyes have not seen and ears have not heard”[12]
An entangling honeymoon initiates delicious consummating creations from the
fruitions of His heart’s desires
Peace
Prince of Peace enrobe thy subjects in tabernacled tunics whitened from crimsoned supplications
Hold each humble agency as a selfless beat of your Sacred Heart bequeathed to the Father
Gather all the nations and insight gratuitous invocations reverberating with indefatigable
faith, hope and trust
Let the outcry of hosannas burst open the heavens and send celestial reigns of Angels and Witnesses to soak altars with Unapproachable Light
Bread embodied
Wine transfused
Forgiveness: the new lingua franca obliterates fortified fury fracasing fantasmic fear
It bleeds in gushing bursts unfurling its red carpeted mercy to
the four corners of the earth
Oh Prince of Peace crown thy sheep as heavenly citizens commissioned as thy
kiss of peace, now and forever
Love
Holy, Holy, Holy, our King of Love is enthroned – the Greatest living in the least
Pearls of Great Price unearthed as priceless treasures
Giver and gifts “packed together, shaken down, and overflowing”[13]
The Sower’s impassioned seeds are sown with compassion
Glory births forests of mustard trees bowing in adoration
The Word made Bread of Life multiples in spirited flesh and does not return void
Myriads and myriads of graced blessings commune with Purpose
Serve and served know no boundaries, persisting in unbreakable chains of charity
Love, loves love and draws everything into selfless journeys creating unending Otherness
Listen to the poem:
The poem was intended to be read with scripture verses and gospel passages.
Download a .pdf version of an Ode to the Eucharist which also includes quotes from saints and mystics on the nature of the Eucharist.
[1] Fig trees belong to the mulberry family (Moraceae) comprises about 40 genera and some 1,000 species of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. Plants of the family contain a milky latex and generally feature unusual fruits formed by the fusion of the ovaries of many flowers. Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-plants-in-the-family-Moraceae-2075385
[2] Exodus 17: 5-6
[3] Massah and Meribah: “These names occur together as applied to one place only in Ex 17:7; they stand, however, in parallelism in Dt 33:8; Ps 95:8. In all other cases they are kept distinct, as belonging to two separate narratives. The conjunction here may be due to conflation of the sources.” Source: https://classic.net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Massah%20And%20Meribah
[4] Numbers 20: 7-8 There are two separate accounts of God providing water to Israelites wandering in the desert. In this account Moses does not follow the instructions of God to speak to the rock. He strikes the rock with his staff as he did the first time (Exodus 17). His disobedience is punished by God. Moses dies at the age of 120 at Mount Nebo and is not permitted to enter the promised land.
[5] A ritual bath used for cleansing and codified in Jewish Law. First instance, Leviticus 11: 36
[6] Revelation 16: 4
[7] 1 John 5: 8
[8] Revelation 22: 1
[9] Reference to healing of hemorrhaging women: Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48
[10] Reference to Isaiah 40:31 “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint”.
[11] Isaiah 25: 6
[12] 1 Corinthians 2: 9
[13] Luke 6: 38
