Quote of the day, 14 May: Jessica Powers
The soul that cries to God out of the hot heart
of contrition
is indisputably heard.
Here is the pact of love; it is triply signed
with a sure eternal seal.
Though the whimpering call creeps out from the
den of the coiled serpent
that hides from God and lies in wait for the
Virgin’s heel,
it stirs a sudden hastening out of heaven
to the place of the cry. God takes this piteous one
at its urgent word.
He bundles it into His ship, with all its holdings,
and the island of sin is left behind,
in distance blurred.
And He who redeems will use for the soul
the full extent of its cargo:
the songs, the memory’s trivia, the sweet or acid tears,
the spoils or the debt of frightening arrears.
Ingenious to save, in the end His love
will put to divine advantage
the wisdom (if wisdom could be the word) of the wasted
years.
Jessica Powers (Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, ocd)
The Soul that Cries to God (1948; 1984)
The Immaculate ConceptionPowers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: The Immaculate Conception is an oil on canvas painting executed between 1767–1769 by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696–1770). Image credit: copyright © Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado (used by permission).
⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Have I ever experienced God bringing grace out of something I once considered wasted?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.
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