Exhaling

Amor proximi 

I sought His love in kneeling throngs of prayer

In liturgies sublime, incensed, communal,

Gathering for myself the perfumed air

And richly vested full confessed tribunal,

I listened for His voice in chant and hymn

From page and word I strained to visualize;

In solitude and quiet rest pursued Him,

But caught my first true glimpse in Samaritan eyes.

So I sacrificed to serve Him in my neighbor –

Gave past my wants to lessen others’ needs.

I’d thought I would find God upon Mount Tabor,

But heart-proof of love is not what glows but bleeds.        

                  The sanguinary road to Calvary we must trod   

                  If we would listen to the heartbeat of God.