Daily Primer — July 14, Heimaey, Iceland
Each day you will be given:
A Florilegium entry
A Daily Prayer
and a Night Prayer.
A Florilegium entry
A Daily Prayer
and a Night Prayer.
The alternative to finite pursuits of finite desires, then, is a finite pursuit of an infinite desire, namely, to know and be with God—the ultimate Other, a “reality never fully grasped, provoking a thirst that remains blissfully unfulfilled”
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THE POND
August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow.
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another.
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.
==============
THE POND
August of another summer, and once again
I am drinking the sun
and the lilies again are spread across the water.
I know now what they want is to touch each other.
I have not been here for many years
during which time I kept living my life.
Like the heron, who can only croak, who wishes he
could sing,
I wish I could sing.
A little thanks from every throat would be appropriate.
This is how it has been, and this is how it is:
All my life I have been able to feel happiness,
except whatever was not happiness,
which I also remember.
Each of us wears a shadow.
But just now it is summer again
and I am watching the lilies bow to each other,
then slide on the wind and the tug of desire,
close, close to one another.
Soon now, I’ll turn and start for home.
And who knows, maybe I’ll be singing.
Belden Lane, Ravished by Desire: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality, p. 6. — This is a very Kierkegaardian take. Kierkeegaard writes in Either/Or that “in relation to God we are always in the wrong,” which prompts an ongoing, lifelong pursuit, as we are always seeking relationship with that which is infinitely Other—a relationship in which we are always partial and never self-sufficient - Ben Lang.
And then:
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
And then:
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
Florilegium is the Medieval Latin word for bouquet, or more literally flowers (flos, flor-) which are gathered (legere). The word florilegium was used to refer to a compilation of writings, often religious or philosophical. These florilegium are literary flowers—beautiful words/prayers/thoughts I have gathered. During my sabbatical they will give me something to ponder each day. — PHL.
Lord God, for whose coming I fervently pray.
I stand proudly in the lineage of Peter — who when asked, declared, “You are the Messiah of God.”
I declare along with him that you are unambiguously the one who saves. And yetI also confess that more often than I would like to admit I echo Herod's question, “Who is this man about whom I hear these things?”
So I timidly offer the five loaves, two fishes, and expect hunger to follow, not abundance. I desire to follow you but I want to follow on my own terms and in my own good time.
Give me courage, Lord, and wisdom, and do not grow weary of my double-minded discipleship. I am the lost you came to find, the sick you came to heal, the enslaved you came to liberate, and I place all of my confidence in your great power to redeem. Amen.
I stand proudly in the lineage of Peter — who when asked, declared, “You are the Messiah of God.”
I declare along with him that you are unambiguously the one who saves. And yetI also confess that more often than I would like to admit I echo Herod's question, “Who is this man about whom I hear these things?”
So I timidly offer the five loaves, two fishes, and expect hunger to follow, not abundance. I desire to follow you but I want to follow on my own terms and in my own good time.
Give me courage, Lord, and wisdom, and do not grow weary of my double-minded discipleship. I am the lost you came to find, the sick you came to heal, the enslaved you came to liberate, and I place all of my confidence in your great power to redeem. Amen.
Luke chapter 9. Liturgy of the Hours — PHL.
Lord, you set the mountains in place
by your strength:
you calm the roar of the seas
and the noise of the waves:
the whole world stands in awe
of your deeds,
of the great things you have done.
Your deeds bring shouts of joy
from one end of the earth to the other
and every hillside declares your glory.
Adapted from Psalm 65
by your strength:
you calm the roar of the seas
and the noise of the waves:
the whole world stands in awe
of your deeds,
of the great things you have done.
Your deeds bring shouts of joy
from one end of the earth to the other
and every hillside declares your glory.
Adapted from Psalm 65
from Iona - A Pilgrim’s Guide by Peter W. Millar, p. 36.