Our fruit is very sweet,
And He is very happy,
When we remain attached
To the one true Vine.
Joy warms us with light,
Peace conquers fear,
Patience stops time,
Kindness multiplies smiles.
Generosity feeds the world,
Faithfulness makes us a Church,
Gentleness purifies the heart,
Self-control shuts out darkness.
But Love, yes Love, wondrously
Binds them all together into
Majestic harmony as our souls
Drink of the Lord’s Divine Mercy.
Inspired by Pompeo Batoni’s masterpiece
The lecherous elders saw her,
with eyes wanton and wicked
they saw the lovely Susannah
as she innocently bathed in the
warm water of the silent garden,
but when she rejected the lurid
scheme of these unjust judges,
their vicious vile hearts burned
with lust and anger, and so
they perniciously plotted to
melt down her golden reputation
in the fiery furnace of calumny;
but still, she trusted,
Susannah trusted in God --
then, the Spirit of the Lord rushed
upon a youth named Daniel
who, though very humble,
spoke with the authoritative
passion of the prophets of old,
and his wondrous wisdom
amazed the people who listened --
and, lo, in the twinkle of an eye,
Justice struck down the elders
like a holy hammer from Heaven.
Inspired by Caravaggio’s masterpiece
David, youthful and ruddy,
God’s brave little warrior,
Bends over to see the stupefied
Expression on Goliath’s face;
The beheaded giant attempts to
Utter one last word to the victor,
But the smooth stone piercing
His bloody brain prevents him;
The future king is as calm and
Collected as a sage prophet,
Truly he is God’s holy champion,
The faithful and fearless one.
You watch with piercing pistol eyes as
Stephen is brought before the Sanhedrin,
The leaders flog him with false witness,
And revengefully rush at him;
They drag him outside the city,
And lay their cloaks at your Pharisaical feet,
Then, with hellish hate, they hurl
Spear-like stones that crush his body;
Horribly hideous thoughts float through
The black ocean of your mind,
And you are obdurately obsessed with
Driving Christianity into total oblivion;
You track and hunt down the Christians
With dreadful determination,
You throw them into prison,
Seeking to snuff out the sparks of the New Way.
On the dusty road to Damascus,
You relish your recent conquest over the Christians,
You are smugly satisfied with your success
Against those religious rebels;
But then there is a blinding flash,
Infinitely brighter than a bolt of lightning,
Catapulted from your horse,
You clumsily crash to the ground and collapse;
Then you unmistakably hear that familiar
Gentle voice of Christ the Courageous,
He tenderly and mercifully asks,
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Suddenly you are struck blind,
And you are entirely enveloped in darkness,
It appears as if God has blown out the sun,
As if it were a giant candle in the sky.
Pondering and perturbed, you are praying quietly,
In a home on Straight Street,
Lost in your thoughts, you rhythmically
Stroke your black mustache and beard;
Your heavy heart weeps in dismay,
As your brashness has led to your bitter blindness,
Now the hero who was persecuting the rebels
Is himself converting into a rebel;
Scattered at your feet are the shattered
Pieces of your old way of life,
A day ago those puzzle pieces all fit together,
Like the pillars in Solomon’s Portico;
But now a key piece of the puzzle is missing:
The messianic centerpiece,
You repentantly fast and pray,
As Ananias approaches with the missing piece.
Gazing at the Circus Maximus, you know
That your time in this world is very short,
As you reflect back upon your life,
You realize how much you’ve changed;
Through the limitless love of the Lord,
You have become a very humble man,
And through the Prince of Peace,
You are filled with the fruits of the Spirit;
After so many years, you long to
Give the kiss of peace to the saintly Stephen,
You hunger and thirst to embrace your
Magnificent Messiah, Jesus the Just;
The sun sets in Rome’s crimson sky,
Surrounded by clusters of woolly clouds,
This flock of lambs is ready to follow
The shepherd-sun down into Vatican Hill.
Born in the breathtaking majesty of the Alps,
you became the Bishop of Geneva most brave;
You fought bloodless battles against the Calvinists,
and your gentle eloquence many souls did save.
Others preached with a barrel full of vinegar,
and for their listeners this wasn’t at all funny;
But you had the sense to sweeten your sermons
with the most delightful and delicious honey.
In your classic book you show us, the laity,
how to make our ordinary lives a success;
Teaching us to find God in the present moment,
our worried minds are relieved of great stress.
The Dark One
Attacks me,
So I put on the
Armor of God,
And live the fruits
Of the Spirit:
Thanksliving,
And I am safe;
This quick shift
From offense
To defense,
Helps me to
Hold my ground
On Jesus the Rock.
Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece
Just a moment ago,
before I struck the rock,
the people used their mouths
to stone me with sarcasm,
to run me through with ridicule,
to crucify me with cruelty --
but if they would see You here,
the Holy One, the great I AM,
they would never do this to You;
yet now, with those same mouths,
they thirstily drink the water,
refreshing their parched throats,
strengthening their tired bodies --
but what they really need,
what they really and truly need,
to refresh and purify their souls,
is Your gracious gift of Living Water,
an endless ocean of Divine Mercy.
To be
Or not to be,
That is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler
For Mommy to surrender
To the slings and arrows of
Sacrificial love,
Or by aborting,
End me.
To die from guilt while
contemplating abortion:
To sleep, to sleep
No more!
Perchance to have dreams --
Or eternal nightmares --
Of what I am about to do
To my innocent baby;
When I have shuffled off
The mortal coil of his
Umbilical cord and
Allowed him to be
Dis mem ber ed,
I dread something worse
Than death: Hell,
The undiscovered country;
Thus, conscience can make
Heroes of us all --
Soft you now,
It’s never too late,
So my fair baby shall live
In the compassionate arms
Of The Divine Mercy.
Inspired by Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto’s masterpiece
A lonely little baby in a basket
floats freely in the current of
the Nile River, his brown eyes
wandering to and fro, innocently
wondering where his mother is;
the Spirit delicately leads the
young one towards his new home,
and in a short time the babe feels
his journey come to a gentle halt;
when the basket opens, he looks up
and sees a pretty face, but unlike
any that he has seen before, painted,
but with a light, elegant touch;
then the Egyptian woman’s
eyes open wide in wonder,
and her beautiful lips curve
into a warm, sweet smile,
and for the first time in
her life, she is in love.
Inspired by Antonio Castillo Saavedra’s masterpiece
Stripped of his ornamental tunic
By his jealous, impulsive brothers,
Joseph sits cramped inside a dry well,
As if inside a cavernous dungeon,
Bewildered, like a lost lonely sheep;
Then, he’s startled by a falling rope --
He instinctively grips it and
Suddenly, he’s jerked upwards,
His eyes observing the misty clouds
That seem to be swirling in confusion
Above him in the cold dark sky;
After being yanked out of the well
And thrown roughly to the ground
By one of his very own brothers,
He wearily looks up at an
Astonished Midianite merchant,
Who carefully looks him over
With a shrewd business-like eye
Before buying him, on the spot,
For a bargain of twenty shekels;
As Joseph slowly walks alongside
This cheerful good-natured trader,
He wonders what God’s plans will be
For him in the distant land of Egypt.
Inspired by Paolo Veronese’s masterpiece
Abraham simply can’t wait any longer:
His heavy heart thunderously thumps
Deep down inside his big broad chest,
And his body trembles with terror.
He hesitates as if he is hopelessly lost,
As if wandering in a wasteland of worry,
Yet when he closes his weary eyes,
He finds God’s gift of faith in his heart.
Little Isaac gazes upward towards the sky,
Wondering why the clouds are so grey,
He completely trusts his good father,
And knows not his own impending doom.
Abraham’s hopeful hand grips the knife,
Then very slowly, and ever so silently,
He raises its bloodless blade in the air,
Preparing for the swift stroke of death.
But an angel in white stops him and
Abraham’s body crumbles to the ground,
Like fallen fragments of unleavened bread,
And Divine Mercy warmly smiles upon him.
As the stunning jewel of our solar system,
the planet Saturn reigns in regal splendor,
Ringed by its exquisite, elegant crown,
its yellow-gold complexion is unparalleled;
Angels casually coast around the rainbow rings
as Saturn swiftly spins in glee,
Twirling atop God’s invisible index finger, this
planet humbly reflects the beauty of the good God.
Inspired by Frans Francken II’s masterpiece
The people were far more
advanced in technology than
their predecessors, and they
built a tower soaring to the skies;
their minds were filled with
grand new dreams of progress,
and each of them envisioned
a great new world in which
their creative ingenuity
would supply all of their needs --
they no longer needed God.
The Spirit slowly circled overhead,
saddened that He had been
forgotten by the people,
so He sighed deeply, wishing
His children to know how much
they needed Him, wishing
them to know how greatly and
how passionately He loved them;
so He withdrew and gave them
what they wanted: independence --
and then they babbled like idiots.
Why are dust and ashes proud?
Why is it that we accomplish
great things, and then we
forget the One who gave us
the gifts in the first place?
Even stubborn donkeys
understand that although
they wear a very beautiful
diamond-studded saddle,
it is absolutely nothing that
they earned or deserved.
Inspired by Francis Danby’s masterpiece
Far, far away,
on the stormy grey sea,
Noah’s grand wooden ark
slowly and gently bobs
up and down, up and down,
in the waves of Divine Mercy,
but as I turn to the right,
my heart stops when I see
dark cascades of rain all around,
pouring madly out of the turbulent
black clouds like cool liquid lava.
I stand atop what was once a tall
mountain, surrounded by the
devastating deluge and flood,
and clusters of screeching
men and women encircle me,
clinging like crabs to the wet rocks,
but many have already fallen
into the swirling sea below and
clutch desperately to the feeble
branches of submerged oak trees,
hoping the tempest will cease.
Only hours later, I’m the only
survivor, but I won’t last much
longer since the water is up to my
waist, and it is more and more
difficult to maintain my hold of the
wet boulder I’ve been sitting on all
day, and as I hopelessly look
around, I only see grey water and
black skies, and the relentless rain
that brings with it God’s justice.
I’m like a ridiculous painted clown,
Juggling to-do’s, up and down and
Back and forth, my life is a frantic
Intertwining of past, present, future,
In a tangled jungle of multitasking,
Weighed down by the heavy stress
Of guilt over my imperfect past and
Of worry over unknown tomorrows;
But life is so much easier when I
Zero in and focus on the great I AM,
Living perpetually in the present,
Juggling one little ball at a time:
Blessed are the single-hearted,
For they shall surely see God.
Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece
Old Noah and his family,
shunned and mocked by
their know-it-all neighbors,
diligently gather the animals
into the cozy confines of
the grand wooden ark;
when all are on board and
they lock up the vessel,
from very high in the sky
a peaceful dove looks down and
the ark looks like a giant oyster,
protecting its treasure from
the swiftly advancing storm.
Inspired by Tiziano Vecellio’s masterpiece
As the serpent seductively
smiles at Adam and Eve,
their teeth tear the flesh
of the juicy fruit -- and, oh!
the intense sweetness
and overwhelming delight!
but very suddenly they
shudder and convulse
in their deadly disobedience,
as their souls are poisoned
by the black sugar of sin.
Inspired by Thomas Cole’s masterpiece
Adam and Eve gratefully gaze
in awe and wonder at the
beauty of God’s holy creation;
beyond the sublime peace
of the verdant meadow and
the fresh tropical fruit trees
that lovingly embrace it,
a whispering waterfall sparkles
like aquamarine crystal in
the warm welcoming sun
and gracefully pours into
the pristine lake below;
rising majestically behind it
is a towering mountain of rock
that stands in stately grandeur,
piercing the serene blue sky,
joyfully pointing to the realm
of the Heavenly Homeland.
Inspired by Michelangelo’s masterpiece
The Father of Freedom reaches
across the atmosphere,
accompanied by His angels
which are clustered closely
in the blessed bouquet
of His bountiful love;
Adam marvels at the amazing
generosity of the good God,
grateful for the gift of life,
and his eyes fill with tears
as he beholds the beauty of
the Compassionate Creator.
Christmas Day
Baby Jesus is born,
And through Our Savior
We can be born again daily;
Day by day each of us awakens,
Day by day the evil one tempts us,
Day by day Divine Mercy is victorious,
As we surrender to the God of Mercy,
As we trust the God of Goodness,
As we embrace the God of Love;
Thus, we are born again daily
If we choose life with Him,
So every day can be like
Christmas Day.