Universe (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, a previously written poem revisited January 12, 2021, feast day of Saints Lucia of Valcaldara (above) and Caesaria of Arles, and of the Milkgiver (Nurser) Icon of the Mother of God. This image of Saint Lucia feels to hold the essential faith the poem seeks; from here.)

Universe

(in gratitude for my mother, and her mother, and her mother 

and on back, for passing on their love of the Rosary)

Prayer, for me, is simply a raising of the heart...

Whenever my soul is so dry that I am incapable

of a single good thought, I always say an Our Father

or a Hail Mary very slowly, and these prayers alone

cheer me up and nourish my soul with divine food.

--Saint Therese of Lisieux (feast day October 1)

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be,

all I need is contained in thee.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be,

I look at God, and He looks at me.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be,

Mind, Word and Breath of the Trinity.*

Amen.

*Based on the traditional Carthusian belief that all needed theology can be found through simply the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be.

"I look at God and He looks at me" was a favorite meditation of Saint Vianney (the Cure of Ars), based on the simple prayer practice of one of his parishioners. "Mind, Word and Breath" is an early Christian illustration of the Trinity.