SUNDAY JUNE 25TH, 2023
“Those who allow themselves to be drawn by the love of Christ, thus becoming his disciples, also experience the desire to bring to everyone the mercy and compassion flowing from his heart. Missionary work does not come naturally, for we always tend to prefer life to be comfortable, with everything in order.
It was necessary, then, for the Holy Spirit to come and make the tremendous “disorder” that was the day of Pentecost. This is because, in order to initiate missionary outreach, to create the life of the Church, the Spirit is first the creator of confusion and then draws out harmony. Both are of the Holy Spirit.”
Pope Francis
Sunday Morning Early
by David Romtvedt
My daughter and I paddle red kayaks
across the lake. Pulling hard
we slip easily through the water.
Far from either shore, it hits me
that my daughter is a young woman
and suddenly everything is a metaphor
for how short a time we are granted:
the red boats on the blue-black water,
the russet and gold of late summer’s grasses,
the empty sky. We stop and listen to the stillness.
I say, “It’s Sunday, and here we are
in the church of the out of doors,”
then wish I’d kept quiet. That’s the trick in life—
learning to leave well enough alone.
Our boats drift to where the chirring
of grasshoppers reaches us from the rocky hills.
A clap of thunder. I want to say something truer
than I love you. I want my daughter to know that,
through her, I live a life that was closed to me.
I paddle up, lean out, and touch her hand.
I start to speak then stop.
“Sunday Morning Early” by David Romtvedt from Dilemmas of the Angels. © Louisiana State University Press, 2017.
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