Poem for the Paraclete
“Nor do you know your dwelling
for dark is your retreat;
and who would guess that
darkness
could hold the Paraclete?”
~Jessica Powers
15 Comments »
132
Comment by gypsy
May 24, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
She’s a Religious, isn’t she? I love this, love the title, too.
Comment by kathryntherese
May 25, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Yes, she is a Discalced Carmelite, like me:)
Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit.
Just so you don’t hold her accountable, that’s my title, not hers. Can’t remember hers…
Comment by gypsy
May 27, 2007 @ 1:32 am
The title is what caught my heart 
It truly just arrested me. Imagine someone writing a poem for the Paraclete. There’s something so throat-lump-forming sweet in that thought.
I never read/hear anything much about “the Paraclete.” It is a word that has arrested my heart ever since I was knee-high to a GP. Everything in me went very still at that word, and still does, and I still don’t know how/why.
Comment by Gabrielle
May 29, 2007 @ 1:40 am
Her religious name was, Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that beautiful?
Comment by gypsy
May 29, 2007 @ 11:23 pm
As if “Jessica Powers” wasn’t beautiful enough, her chosen name was so beautiful, I’d decided not to comment on it. But now that I have, I’ve risked the asking of a question about Religious names of the professed. Does one take the name one thinks the Lord wants one to have? Or does one fashion it one’s self, based on what sums up one’s spiritual self to the best of their knowledge, i.e., Sr. Slow Puppy of the Quick Calves of Christ? Pardon that was indeed geared to make you smile, but the question is quite seriously asked.
Comment by kathryntherese
May 29, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
I can only speak for certain of the Discalced Carmelites – we do choose our own names. Do we choose the name we think the Lord wants us to have? I think so. Everyone has approached the choosing of their name prayerfully. Most people seem to choose the name of a saint to whom they have long prayed, and pair it with a devotion to which they feel called – the Cross (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, John of the Cross), the Christ Child (Therese of the Child Jesus – she added “and the Holy Face” later), Christ Incarnate (Teresa de Jesus).
My own name was a no-brainer, except that I thought I should pray about it before I put it in black and white. Had to choose Mary. Had to choose Joseph, who has been like my own self-chosen foster father/spiritual father since childhood. And I could find no other devotion that captured my poetic imagination than those Two Glorified Human Hearts (an unsentimental devotion – a devotedness to the very reality that in Heaven there are two human hearts beating, and they beat with love for us).
So, I am Sr. Mary Joseph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I figured if St. Therese could wield an unwieldy name, I could too! She IS my patron saint, after all. Which brings me to another interesting pondering about names. With my patron saints being the only three female Doctors of the Church – Catherine, Therese, Teresa – shouldn’t I be wiser than I am? 
)
Comment by Gypsy
May 30, 2007 @ 3:29 am
Noooo.. for Pete’s sake, leave God somethin’ more to do in ya. Besides, you’re already wise aplenty.
It’s a sweet thought, the naming.. it’s all reminiscent of the “new” names Jesus gave some (Simon bar-Jona, Saul of Tarsus, the sons of Zebedee, the little dead girl– now “Damsel” and the woman with an issue of blood– now “Daughter”); and reminiscent of the “new” name the Seraphic Father Francis gave a long-time female friend of his soul when she was heartbroken to not be able to be a friar, “‘Brother’ Jacoba,” and reminiscent, too, of Confirmation names and yes, of the “new” name one accepts in marriage: “Hey-while-you’re-up..” (Kidding) In some cultures, the Father names the child..
Thank you for answering. I’m sure I’m not the only one who had wondered.
Comment by gypsy
May 31, 2007 @ 1:56 am
Just read up on her a bit. What a wondrous creature. I must be the laziest thing this side of .. well, if I’m smart, I won’t say.. because I’ve seen her poems here and there on the Cathonet for years, and never looked into her at all until today. Funny, but I’d always thought she was a contemporary.
Comment by kathryntherese
May 31, 2007 @ 8:54 am
But she is a contemporary. Sort of.
She only died in the 80’s, I think.
Bishop Morneaux edited a book of her poetry (the last one) and had met with her several times. When my outspoken Carmelite priest-friend presented the bishop with “To Sing You Must Exhale,” he said, “Look, I’ve found the next Jessica Powers.” Ha! He only said this because I am a Carmelite, as she is. I did finally meet Bishop Morneaux some time later, which was joyful for me – to meet someone who had met Sr. Miriam, and one who enjoys poetry!
That’s my thin thread of a tie to that great poet…
Comment by gypsy
May 31, 2007 @ 11:08 am
I remember when I first came across Kathryn Mulderink’s poetry and was astounded at the beauty and the personal lines, and most validly so (not simply because it was like Gumby’s Pokey coming across Sea Biscuit). Truly lovely, succinct and polished.
Comment by kathryntherese
May 31, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Ha! You have me laughing out loud, gypsy! Pokey and Sea Biscuit – that is funny. Spoken like a true wordsmith.
Praise God that you found some good in the words you read. They came from my gut, after all.
I, in contrast, have always appreciated seeing through your eyes – you seem to always see through a magnifying glass and find grace moving among the molecules. Love that about you.
Comment by gypsy
May 31, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
I think it’s a natural result of so often counting fleur-de-lis in wallpaper, even when I didn’t want to. It was thrill to come across something unexpected in all that sameness (especially if it wasn’t a dead spider. Proving once again that still water runs deep..)
Thank you.. I like that “finder of (G)grace among the molecules” description. I don’t think I’d have been so cognizant, if not for Stephen Hand who is far moreso. At any rate, I hope that’s my God-given name/term of endearment.
I came across “To Sing You Must Exhale” again here recently, and thought I really ought to sit down and parse it slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y. I’m looking forward to this.
Comment by Ann
June 1, 2007 @ 3:29 am
I have the book too. Among my favourites : ‘Ante Lucem’, ‘Between Two Mountains’ and ‘Silversmith’. There are many other beautiful poems like ‘Seventy Times Seven’ and the exquisite ‘Gift’.
Now, what’s this about a project? I’m listening….
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