Our readings for Sunday are here.
These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Masses of
- November 13, 2016 10AM
- November 10, 2013
The poems Fr Dennis references these years are:
- 2016 homily — Slowly, Slowly, They Return by Wendell Berry
- 2013 homily — A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz (transl. Anthony Milosz)
- 2013 homily — A Left-Handed Commencement Address (Mills College, 1983) by Ursula K Leguin
In 2016, we reflected that —
- It is a somewhat rare experience that we have these scriptures and all have shared a national (general) election (this past Tuesday, November 8, 2016).
- D2 encourages us to undertake an imaginative prayer with the last line of Malachi: … … There will arise // the sun of justice with its healing rays.
- Imagine the healing rays of the sun as well.
- The poem by Wendell Berry is kind of like a psalm of praise and the “tier after tier” of pine branches are structured like choir risers, upholding the “weightless grace” of birds.
- For rl, the poem and the fourth stanza, beginning “Receiving sun and giving shade // Their life’s a benefaction made, …” reminds me of the end scene of ORDINARY PEOPLE, in which the father (Donald Sutherland) and son (Timothy Hutton) receive sun and give shade to each other, in much needed love.
In 2013, we reflected that —
Ursula K LeGuin’s “Left-Handed Commencement Address” is more direct, being in prose and directed to a specific audience, a group of young graduates, exhorting them to live in the paradigm of life rather than power.
rl did not write down her notes but only the poems!
The poems wonderfully capture the insistence of today’s readings that sticking close with God in this world is neither easy nor bereft of joy because it is a path of vulnerability, counter to the ways of the world. The Way is difficult in all manners, and we will be tested and confronted for the sake of that relationship with God.
The act of hope, the prayer, in the song “on the end of the world” in the final stanza of Milosz’ poem of the same name. A year or so later from this homily, Russia annexed the territory of Crimea from Ukraine, 70 years after Milosz wrote this poem in Warsaw, 1944. And now, not quite 10 years later Ukraine fights for its democracy and sovereignty again. And, again, another 10 years later.
The Surest Sign 