Sunday, July 13, 2014

"Faith" "Hope" "Love" by Czeslaw Milosz

Faith

Faith is whenever you look 
At a dewdrop or floating leaf
And know that they are there because they have to be.
Even if you close your eyes and dream up things
The world will remain as it has always been
And the leaf will be carried by the waters of the river.

You have faith also when you hurt your foot
Against a sharp rock and you know
That rocks are meant to hurt feet.
See the long shadow that is cast by the tree?
We and the flowers throw shadows on the earth.
What has no shadow has no strength to live.




Hope

Hope is with you when you believe
The earth is not a dream but living flesh,
That sight, touch, and hearing do not lie, 
That all things you have ever seen here
Are like a garden looked at from a gate.

You cannot enter. But you're sure it's there.
Could we but look more clearly and wisely
We might discover somewhere in the garden
A strange new flower and an unnamed star.

Some people say we should not trust our eyes,
That there is nothing, just a seeming,
These are the ones who have no hope.
They think that the moment we turn away,
The world, behind our backs, ceases to exist,
As if snatched up by the hands of thieves.




Love

Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills-- 
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.

Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn't matter whether he knows what he serves:


Thursday, July 10, 2014

My heart is restless until I check Facebook

I used to tell my 8th grade catechism class that "the Gospel is the fullness of reality," repeating it frequently in hopes that, if nothing else, that would stick.

Here we have Louis CK advocating, in his usual princely way . . . something along the same lines of experiencing that fullness.


One takeaway: if you're gonna stab yourself with catharsis, choose something interesting and dewy rather than sterile and insulating.