THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Powerful and impressive and majestic,

The Sun’s luminous rays reach out

Towards the distant outer rim,

Where the darkness is pervasive,

And where evil breeds in the 

Black cloud of never-ending night.

Disappointed and disillusioned,

In the dark night of discontent,

Sad souls long to fill the void

Of the black hole in their hearts,

So they search for truth and beauty

At the center of the universe.

Patient and gentle and merciful,

The Son’s compassionate glance

Seeks souls empty and broken,

And they are attracted by the

Gravitational pull of His joy and

The ecstasy of His eternal love.

THE TEMPEST

The wild tempest is unleashed

   and approaches us all at night,

Like a fierce, hungry cannibal,

   it swallows the moon in a bite;

Awake, awake my dearest souls:

   the near occasion of sin beware!

Away, away, while there’s still time,

   before you are caught in a snare!

THE BATTLE

Like an aggressive squadron of

Enemy fighter jets, a flurry of

Problems is rapidly approaching

My sector in attack formation;

In my anxiety I am tempted to take

Them on all at once, but, instead, 

I veer off to the right and one breaks

Off from the pack and follows me;

I take my adversary into the Light

And he is utterly blinded by it, so

I launch the missiles of patience

And love until he is destroyed;

One by one, I do the same with

The other challenges until, finally,

The spiritual airspace is clear, then

I praise the King of the Universe.

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

The depressing rain falls,

As the sky weeps sorrowfully,

And the heavy humidity

Horribly weighs me down,

For I am imprisoned in the

Dark gloom, with seemingly

No way out, and yet,

Sweet Madonnina d’Amore,

You smile upon me and are

Silently with me as I carry

My daily crosses, and so

You patiently remind me,

Over and over and over,

To fix my trusting gaze on

The Passion of your Sun,

For above the clouds

The sky is always blue, and

The weary world is warmed

By the Living Light of Love.

EXECUTION AND EXILE

We all deserve execution,

To be nailed on a cross of wood,

We all deserve exile in hell,

For only God is purely good;

He chose to take our place in death,

Bloodily stabbed into the tree,

He paid the price to rescue us,

For only He can set us free.

THE TERROR OF DEMONS

Pride is a red dragon that tries

To kindle our sinful souls with

The flaming fires of falsehood,

Causing our egos to swell with

The helium of haughtiness;

But thanksgiving is a weapon,

A weapon of heavenly wonder,

Used by the Holy Family when

There was arrogance in the air;

So when we are praised for some

Fine worldly accomplishment,

Then we too should turn to the

Lord God, and, with a little smile,

We should frequently thank Him

For each of His gracious gifts,

And seeing our happy hearts filled

To the brim with gratitude, behold,

The devil dragon flees in terror.

THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL

Inspired by the writing of St. Augustine

Patience is the amber Light

Of our beloved soul;

When we impetuously 

Want to speed through

The intersections of life

And just do what we want —

Not what God wants —

Then the red Light stops us,

So that we can recognize the danger;

Acting rashly, thoughtlessly,

Charging ahead of the Lord,

All of these cause nothing but trouble,

So the red Light gives us a little more time,

To ponder, to reflect, to pray,

So that when the Light turns green,

we can move and act

In God’s time, in God’s will;

For as St. Augustine wisely said,

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

MYSTICAL MERCY

I returned to Jesus,

like Magdalene,

sobbing, my tears

trickling, I kissed

the wounds

on His hands, 

on His feet, 

on His side, 

on His head,

the wounds that I,

yes, I myself,

inflicted upon Him,

yet with gentle

compassion

He embraced me

with His Holy

Spirit of Love.

A JUGGLER'S LIFE

I’m like a ridiculous painted clown,

Juggling to-do’s, up and down and

Back and forth, my life 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

Focus on the great I AM,

Living perpetually in the present,

Juggling one little ball at a time,

So I confidently brush off the past,

Which is totally washed clean in

The Blood of the Lamb,

And I patiently push off the future,

Which is in the loving hands of

The King of the Universe:

Blessed are the single-hearted,

For they shall surely see God.

PEPPERMINT FIRE

The Spirit of Love

Awakens in my heart

Like peppermint fire,

Burning away impurities,

Enlightening my mind,

Sweetening my soul.

CARRYING MY CROSS

Carrying my cross,

I take lumbering steps

up the steep mountain;

I grumble with every step,

like Job, wondering why

the Lord is asking me

to shuffle along, dragging

this heavy wood with me

wherever I go.

But then I come to

a dangerously deep

crevasse that threatens

to end my journey,

and even with a

giant Herculean leap,

I know that I would fall

down, down, down,

into the black throat

of the abyss below.

Suddenly, a white Dove

darts right past me,

causing me to jump back

from the edge of the cliff;

as I do so, the cross falls

forward so that its top

now rests on the other side,

forming a wooden bridge.

After I carefully crawl

to the other side,

I look back at the cross,

wondering if I should

kick it down over

the edge of the cliff,

but, instead, I choose

to slowly pick it up,

embrace it, and

faithfully follow

in the footsteps of Jesus.

CHRISTMAS DAY

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.

THANKSGIVING

When we’re thanks-living,

We choose for living,

We choose for giving,

Lovingly for-giving.

Thanksgiving,

What a wonderful

Gift from God,

It seems to me like

An inexhaustible 

Spiritual ocean of the

Dazzling, magnificent

Divine Mercy.

When we’re living,

In thanksgiving to God,

We’re living for giving,

Lovingly for-giving.

THE VINE

You are The Vine,

and I am a little branch.

When I am proud,

I stubbornly cut myself

off from you, Lord,

and I remain in self-love,

and without your grace

my branch dries out

and my fruit shrivels up,

as my soul slowly dies.

But when I am humble,

I remain in your love,

and your delicious grace

surges through me and

thus my fruit sweetens,

as I am born again.

I am just a little branch,

but you are The Vine.

TRIFLES

Inspired by the writing of St. Francis de Sales

Why are trifles

So important to us?

What’s really all 

The big fuss?

They can often

Infatuate our hearts,

Slowly infecting us,

Like poison darts.

Our desire subtly

Grows and grows,

As we are gradually

Mastered by our foes.

Trifles can turn into treasures,

And treasures into troubles.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

It was a memorable day for me,

The greatest of my young life;

I still remember the class photo,

Me and another boy were the only

Ones dressed in suits of white,

And I loved wearing white

For the first time in my life.

Then inside the old church,

I recall wondering to myself

What Jesus would taste like;

When the time came to go forward,

I stood in line, and when our turn came,

We kneeled at the communion rail,

Waiting for the good God to come.

There He was, my Lord and my God,

And He was dressed in white too;

I meekly opened my small mouth

To welcome the King of Kings,

And then Baby Jesus was gently

Placed by His Holy Mother

On the manger of my tongue.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

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.

LOVE FOR LOVE

Dedicated to my Faithful Mother

You used to provide

For all my needs,

Planting in my soul

God’s holy seeds.

Now older, you need

God’s help from above,

Like you, I now sacrifice

And surrender in love.

TO MY GUARDIAN ANGEL

Guardian Angel, please pray for me,

Because the devil tempts us to obsess,

We must evade the evil of worldly idols,

And not dream of what to possess;

Thirsting for things can thicken anxiety,

Which can seem to never cease,

We struggle and tuggle with all our might,

And banished is all our peace.

The diabolical dragon swoops down,

Determined all good to destroy,

With the flaming fire of enslaving greed,

He seeks to kill all devotion and joy;

But as our trustworthy guide from Heaven,

With love you sing a sweet prayer,

And your petitions rise like a happy dove

Higher and higher up into the air.

When the evil one tries to pour words of

Corrosive poison into our innocent ears,

Teach us to think of the Lord Jesus crucified,

So that banished are all our fears;

When we dance with delight with temptation,

Help us the crucifix recall,

For the cross crushes the devil’s teeth,

And into hellish Styx he will fall.

Meditating on the gore of Golgotha,

Our hearts like tearful candles melt,

Knife-like nails puncture his palms,

And blood trickles to where Our Lady knelt;

Then our foolish obsessions are obliterated,

By the power of His holy love,

And we are magnificently made new,

By His grace flowing from above.

Trying to lure us into obsession,

The devil deceptively dangles his bait,

But seeing you push us out of harm’s way

Only fuels his mad fury and hate;

We escape the avalanche of avarice,

That crushes the soul like snow,

You lead us on a path filled with Light,

And our life in the Spirit does grow.

TO ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

You are the great warrior angel,

Ready for the spiritual battle,

Always sober, vigilant, and alert,

You wait and watch for the enemy;

Then in the midst of black terror,

You slay the red dragon of fear,

And brandish the sword of the Spirit,

The glorious golden sword of Love;

Teach us to become brave soldiers,

Soldiers of Jesus Christ the Lord,

Nourished by the holy Bread of Life,

Refreshed by His sweet new wine.