Offered by Susan Latimer to the Wisdom School Community
We Swim in Mercy
We swim in mercy, as in an endless sea.
Christ Is the Heart of the Heart of the World
This chant came to me on May 1, Teilhard’s birthday, as I prepared to go to a wisdom school on Teilhard at Valle Crucis. I had been struck by words that he wrote on the back of a prayer card with the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “(Christ is the) Heart of the worlds Heart”. This card was found on his bedside table after his death on an Easter morning.
Cynthia offers that the drone, “Christ Is” represents the Geosphere; the Biosphere is represented by “the heart of the heart of the world”; the noosphere by “draw us deeper.”
Christ Is
Christ Is …
the Heart of the Heart of the World
the Heart of the Heart of the World …
draw us deeper
draw us deeper …
Do not give your heart
Abba Poemen, one of the Desert Fathers said, “Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.”
I wrote this chant during a time when I needed to hear this deeply.
Do not give your heart
do not give your heart
to that which does not satisfy
your heart
You are the vine, we are the branches
Jesus said ” I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Written for the Divine Exchange Wisdom School, Kanuga 2018
You are the vine
we are the branches.
When we abide
we bear your fruit
Christ shines at the common heart of things
Another Teilhard-inspired chant, from this quote:
“Christ would not be the God of St. Paul, nor the God of my heart, if, looking at the lowliest, most material, created being, I were unable to say, ‘I cannot understand this thing, I cannot grasp it, I cannot be fully in contact with it, except as a function of him who gives to the natural world of which it is a part its full reality and its final determined form.”
Since Christ is Omega, the universe is physically impregnated to the very core of its matter by the influence of his superhuman nature.
The presence of the incarnate Word penetrates everything, as a universal element.
It shines at the common heart of things, as a center that is infinitely intimate to them and at the same time ( since it coincides with universal fulfillment ) infinitely distant.” (My emphasis)
Teilhard de Chardin, “My Universe”, in “Science and Christ”, p. 54-61, quoted in Collected Writings by Ursula King p. 96-7
Christ shines
Christ shines
Christ shines
Christ shines
Christ shines
at the common heart of things
Christ shines
at the common heart of things
Christ shines
at the common heart of things
Christ shines
at the common heart of things
As truly as God is our Father so truly is God our Mother
Julian of Norwich:
As Truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother
This chant came to me near Mother’s Day this year. A few weeks later our son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Throughout his surgery and treatment we were sustained by the Mercy and the web of connection in this Wisdom community. He is now cancer free.
As truly, as truly, as truly
as God is our Father
so truly, so truly, so truly
is God our Mother
in our merciful Mother we are restored
in our merciful Mother we are restored
in our merciful Mother we are restored
we are restored
Everything matters
Thomas Keatings’ poem, “What Matters” wanted to be sung. This is offered with deep gratitude for his life and teaching.
Only the Divine matters
And because the Divine matters,
Everything
Matters
God empowered our powerlessness
These words are from another of Thomas Keatings’ poems “Out of Nothing.”
God Empowers
our Powerlessness
so that we never despair
so that we never despair
With you is the well of life
From Psalm 36.
With you
is the well of life.
And in your light
we see light.