The Name of Grief
Sic Deus Dilexit Mundum by Unknown Artist and believed to have been painted in the 1700's. The image was found on the Catholic to the Max website here.
Still lonely wind
Against my face aghast
Atop the desert cloaked Rock
Next to rattling sands of morning
Sunsoaked lightbearers searching
For solace and safety in sky and sea
Gutting, eroding, mocking
Wind.
Grief's Name among sarcophagi seared by splitting sin
Spits venom on the once-one lovetree
Whilst shattered fruit falls near
Neglected nigh nothinged until
Soaring Pinions shelter and scuttle seedlings to
Vineyard verdant with seeding salt of mourning
By the Son.
About the Poem:
This poem came to me while attending the Life-Giving Wounds Retreat. Its first stanza represents the effects of parents divorcing: the scouring isolation of our flesh rent from our parents; the aimless wandering of the desires of the world put before us as children, and the hellish, screaming torment of the evil spirits our little souls had no business being forced to face so young. Yet, even with the immediate consequences of the family’s rending noted in the second stanza, the last words are the Word Himself coming to save—with His own winged arm, His own garden, His own tears. He is the last Word, Who as the Sun of Justice, purges away the lie in our flesh, lights the one Way through this passing world, and silently warms the little sons and daughters in the True Son.
Prayer:
Most Holy Jesus, Whose loving Face is the beacon of Mercy, to You I give great thanks for the great rays of Mercy you pour on and into me. I beg before your loving Face, that all those who did me harm in the breaking of my family, through act, neglect, thought, word, or deed—be granted mercy, seventy-sevenfold. In Your Merciful Name do I so bless them. Through the mysterious gifts of these wounds you have permitted me, may I become a house from which Your Mercy reigns, and a chalice from which Your Mercy pours. Amen.
About the Author:
Paul Crnkovich hails from the Northeast, though has lived across the world and across the United States. He is an adult child of divorce, his parents splitting when he was a boy. He has been given great mercies in the Eucharist, through the Sacred Scriptures, and following Mother Mary. His desire is that all those who have wounds know to the depths of their person that the Lord Jesus is Faithful and True, and thirsts to heal those wounds.
Reflection Questions for Small Groups or Individuals:
How did this poem speak to you? Are there any lines in particular that you want to meditate further upon?
In a time of meditation, write your own poem, even just a stanza, that reflects the grief you experience(d).
Have you ever had any sudden and burning inspirations to writing, poetry, song, or another form of art that arose from your pain? What ways might God be speaking to you in those arts about your pain or grief?
Healing happens when we journey together.
If Paul’s poem resonated with you, consider joining an upcoming Life-Giving Wounds retreat or support group. You do not have to carry the darkness alone.
Together, we can walk into the light.