G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “The reason we fly from the city is not in reality that it is not poetical; it is that its poetry is too fierce, too fascinating and too practical in its demands.”*
In this 2021 finale podcast episode, we welcome back Fr. Steve Lantry, SJ for a special Advent/Christmas “Praying with Poetry” episode. Fr. Lantry explores with us how we can use poetry as a tool to enrich and deepen our prayer life. He guides us through three groups of poems (listed below) on the themes of Relationality, Paradox, and Challenge & Hope.
Poems cited:
- The Hidden Singer by Wendell Berry from A Part, 1980, or, Collected Poems, pp.207-8
- Love is the way messengers… by Rumi 1207-1273, from The Soul of Rumi, p. 33, translated by Coleman Barks & John Moyne
- When school and mosque and minaret… by Rumi, 1207-1273, from A Year with Rumi, p.233
- Those who think the heart is only in the chest… by Rumi, 1207-1274, from Rumi: Hidden Music, p. 54, translated by Azima Melita Kolin & Maryam Mafi
- everywhere, everywhere by Charles Bukowski, from What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire, p. 94
- One song by Rumi, 1207-1273,from A Year with Rumi, p. 214,rendered by Coleman Barks
- When We See God by Edward Hirsch
- Hope by Lisel Mueller, from Good Poems, p. 224, ed. by Garrison Keillor
- Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh, from Good Poems, p. 215, ed. by Garrison Keillor
- We have fished all night… by Sr. Annette Moran, CSJ, from A Woman at the Well, p. 55, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, St. Louis Province, 2009
*Lunacy and Letters by G.K. Chesterton, p. 60
