“It is in the church that we discover the worth of the words, ‘and each member belongs to all the others.’ The church is the body of Christ.” –Fruit of the Vine

Query: How do you let yourself belong to others and to the world?

Preparing for Canonization

If someday, long after my death,

the church were to declare me a saint,

I want to be known as

Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment.

Even now, I practice.

Consider

—Lying in bed, I listen to the maple tree argue

the wind, struggle to stay awake, don’t want

to miss any of it.

—When I gather stones on the beach, I hear them

sing in the palm of my hand.

—I lick the salty tears from your face,

savor your sorrow.

—A walk in the woods; light swims through the firs,

flips the shadows, shakes my bones.

Like Moses, I approach

the thick darkness where God is—

groping, breathless, ready.

–Nancy Thomas, in Close to the Ground