Living With Contradiction

In her book Living With Contradiction, an Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality, Esther de Waal reminds us that “We all stand in need of healing. We are all seeking wholeness.” She asserts that “We all know that unless we attend to our inner conflicts and contradictions, not only will we find ourselves torn apart by our inner divisions but also we shall very likely inflict wounds on those around us.” The good news is that “Our God, the God of love, does not want a broken and divided self. He created us for fullness of life.” There is not an ah-ha moment when wholeness comes or our brokenness disappears. It is the search of a life-time, and we cannot make the journey without God’s help; he is the potter to form and transform the clay that we are, to make the old give way to the new.

Thirst

In her beautiful poem, “Thirst,” Mary Oliver reminds us that we are all thirsting for something we do not have, longing for the thing that will complete us and make us both whole and holy. We must be patient for the moment when we come to understand and also ready for that moment of revelation and epiphany.

Another morning and I wake with thirst
for the goodness I do not have. I walk
out to the pond and all the way God has
given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
I was never a quick scholar but sulked
and hunched over my books past the hour
and the bell; grant me, in your mercy,
a little more time. Love for the earth
and love for you are having such a long
conversation in my heart. Who knows what
will finally happen or where I will be sent,
yet already I have given a great many things
away, expecting to be told to pack nothing,
except the prayers which, with this thirst,
I am slowly learning.

— Mary Oliver, Thirst

I Am Not Italian

Billy Collins reminds us that when we travel, even if we are not natives in the country, we can “do as the Romans do” and enjoy the delights of the local culture. By drinking an espresso in a “little white cup,” the speaker – not an Italian – can taste “the same sweetness of life” as the locals.

I am Not Italian, Billy Collins

I am not Italian, technically speaking,
yet here I am leaning on a zinc bar in Florence
on a sunny weekday morning,
my foot up on the smooth iron railing
just like the other men, who,
it must be said, are officially and fully Italian.

It’s 8:40 and they are off to work,
some in offices, others sweeping the streets,
while I am off to a museum or a church
to see paintings, maybe light a candle in an alcove.
Yet here we all are in our suits and work shirts
joined in the brotherhood of espresso,

or how is it said? La fratellanza dell’espresso,
draining our little white cups
with a quick flourish of the wrist,
each of us tasting the same sweetness of life,
if you take a little sugar, and the bitterness
of its brevity, whether you choose to take sugar or not.