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Monday 16th
Week OT
Marriottsville Retreat
July 18, 2016
HOW ABOUT A SIGN! +++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
We
may scoff at folks who ask J for a sign, when before them stands the
magnificent creator God,
Ø
But
how natural and human a picture it is
Ø
When
we’re bumbling through our days, unsure if we’re headed the right direction or
torn by tough decisions …
Ø
A
signal would really help immensely
Ø
“C’mon, God,” we want to cry out, “Give me a clue that you’re with me!”
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ++++++++++++++++++++
Ø
But
maybe the problem isn’t lack of signs, but our lack of attention
Ø
Gerard
Manley Hopkins once wrote:
Ø
These things, these things were here
and but the beholder wanting
Ø
Which two when they once meet,
Ø
The heart rears wings bold and bolder
Ø
& hurls 4 him, half hurles earth 4
him, off his feet
EXPLANATION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø The poet sees the beauty of
the sky with its passing clouds and the blue hills were things already there
before Hopkins paused to notice them
Ø So a beholder was wanting —
was lacking
Ø But when the scene and its
beholder, meet, the heart “leaps up,”
as w/ wings carrying it upward w/ wild, beating emotion …
Ø & it “hurls for him,
O half hurls earth for him off under his feet”
Ø Or, as we would say today,
the beauty of the scene nearly knocks him off his feet
APPLICATION
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø How’s God breathing thru you
retreat this week?
Ø It may be the prisms of dew
tangled in long grass, sparkling like a jeweled sleeve
Ø Remembering a friend who
rearranged a packed schedule to be present to you
Ø Or words leaping off a page,
from a lectionary, spoken this week bringing hope, joy or beauty
CONCLUSION
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø We are people so unaware of
our goodness that if we saw, we’d need sunglasses to shade the dazzle
Ø It is easy and
understandable to ask for a sign
Ø & it’s imp 2 stop &
notice what’s been given!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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