Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart
Psalm 15: 1-3
I’m sharing a poem today I wrote before Easter 2021. I was moved by the Holy Spirit to create this poem as a prayer offering for special intentions I hold in my heart. Before reading this poem, please join me in lifting up this prayer intention to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Precious Blood through which we acquire our salvation and our eternal inheritance.
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27: 4-5
ACT I: THE PROMISE
1. Melchizdek* make haste; our irreverent hourglass cannot forever be stilled by its Sandy Hand
2. Lift high thy bread and wine; appease heaven’s appeal to heal vanquished Love
3. Intone thy echoes of ancient prayers; with reverberations to rouse wicked hearts in atoning chants
4. Avram: what’s thy possessing faulting failure? Did Sarah’s dormant womb confine you to pits of social shame?
5. Avram: were you duped into the passion of believing unbelievable vexations? Will Isaac be a sacrificial bloodletting to scream across the veil?
6. Abraham: how can we trust as you have? When will the stars of our covenantal inheritance brighten into a new era?
7. Oh dreamer Joseph your famined legacy is like a grain of wheat tossed on the ground left to die, lorded by greedy godless gods for four hundred years of learned helplessness
8. THE Mighty Hand sweeps across the land; scurries of unblemished paschal lambs shriek, and blood marks a people tabernacled in family temple abodes
9. Moses hide your face; there is no mediator who can minister the Glory of God. Set up the tabernacle; cover the Tablets with the tent of testimony and let the people take their direction from its cloudy** Countenance
Adonai, Creator of the universe, we praise you and thank you for the gift of life. May the dawn of our salvation history invoke in us a constant sense of wonder and gratitude for your Awesome Love. Protect our souls and mold our hardened hearts into supple clay with form and Order that places you at the Center of all we do, and how we imagine ourselves. Glory be the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
ACT II: THE HIGH PRIEST
10. David’s kingly legacy finds its rest; a voice cries out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
11. Adam’s fall meets its watery grave, as a flow of Grace navigates hellacious ignominies to find bodies of Living Water
12. A Voice from the Holy Temple speaks, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”***
13. The Wedding Feast of the Lamb portends its intimating promises while hiding from its guests
14. Earthen vessels are filled; reluctant water is transformed into wine for a communal celebration. Love transforms stigmatizing scarcity into abundance
15. Crowds pursue the Way in remote places; the Tabernacle flings open its door to multiple bread for hungry hearts eager for signs and wonders
16. The High Priest enacts the last Passover of the Old Covenant
17. The abject folly of avarice dips its hand in the Paschal dish and rejects Love
18. Heaven and Earth are enjoined in One Body; master and slave are obliterated with death defying certainty that rips the veil and renders the temple too small
ACT III: THE KING
19. An unChristianized cenacle houses broken prayers and fasting filled with feverous fear
20. Mother gathers her scattered pecking hens to prepare them to receive the Advocate
21. Wind and fire embolden three years of stories into lucid Truth burning with fierce Passion; everything is new
22. Persecution pursues the blazing trail of the Good News; it cannot stop the spread of spirit filled tabernacles speaking their Heart
23. Zealous righteousness of the law is transmuted in offerings of bread and wine; Grace and Faith court unsuspecting seekers
24. The call of the Tabernacle beckons ravenous souls and believers unite in the Body and Blood of our Savior
25. Mercy we test your patience; Love’s Face of Justice must be seen
26. Not even the gates of Hell can destroy the Temple of the Lord; our tireless prayer “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”
27. Let the Spirit of our King and High Priest possess each heart; that He may reign in earthen tabernacles to the Glory of God now and forever
Blessed Mother pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Consecrate us to your heart that we might come to know, adore, love, and serve your Son. Ask your son to usher in quickly an era of peace. We wish to live as true disciples of Love. Ask Jesus to work through us and in us as His agencies of Grace for others. May we be quick to recognize our Mission and hand your Son all of our gifts and talents to be used to further His Kingdom of Love. Please help us to recognize every drop of dewed Poetry He puts on our path; all the little beautiful signs and movement of His Love that are always operating in our lives. May our hearts be joined with our guardian angels in offering constant heavenly praise even as we are still on Earth. Glory be the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
* Melchizedek is a king and priest appearing in the Book of Genesis. The name means “King of Righteousness” – a name echoing kingly and priestly functions. In the King James Version, the Book of Psalms names Melchizedek as representative of the priestly line through which a future king of Israel’s Davidic line was ordained. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of as “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4), and so Jesus plays the role of the king-priest once and for all. Catholics find the roots of their priesthood in the tradition of Melchizedek (CCC 1544). In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek offers a sacrifice of bread and wine. Christ therefore fulfilled the prophecy of Ps 110:4, that he would be a priest “after the order of Melchizedek” at the Last Supper, when he broke and shared bread with his disciples. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priesthood_of_Melchizedek
** 15On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. 16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. (Numbers 9: 15-17)
*** Mark 1: 11
