OF YOU MY HEART HAS SPOKEN

  O Lord my heart Has nothing To be proud of For you have humbled me Lessons hard to heed My eyes have sought marvels Beyond Hands grasping stations Above my reach Temptations of the Desert Have assaulted my soul And I have not returned To the child at rest Arms that hold The pretence of peace  It is not the hope Of Israel past Nor any future  Promise that I seek It is You alone my Lord For whom I yearn In all  Those misdirected ways It is You You alone That I seek

“He hungered for the uncompromising life of a mendicant.”  (Priest and Beggar by Kevin Wells) I’m reading the biography of Venerable Father Aloysius Schwartz whose enthusiasm, energy and sense of purpose put me to shame, humble me. Though I have always known from a very young age that I would be a priest, always wanted to be one, it seems like I have spent my life wandering. I have always loved and been drawn to the poor, to the vulnerable but never had the courage to be poor. Vulnerable yes, but poor no. And even my presence with the vulnerable is always transient.

  11:11 and exactly 14,000 miles on the trip meter over the hump of the magnificent Dartford Crossing. I love numbers like these. John loved to see 11:11 glow red on his digital radio clock beside his bed at night. Now whenever I see it, I think of him, pause like an Angelus to pray for his eternal rest and praise the Holy Trinity.