Carry Difficulties With Strength: Firm and flexible
To suffer is to take the difficulty and to carry it with strength. Pope Francis
I used to see strength as stiff necked resistance
sturdy stable brawny insistence
til suffering tightened her savage grasp
sautéd me in failure my fortress she smashed.
Reduced to ashes with my cousin Job
my self righteous rage smugly overflows
headstrong persistence comes at a cost
real strength is squandered solid made soft.
With firmness made flexible clamor seeks peace
real strength marries power to being weak.
Today I meet strength in cool fortitude
endurance suffusing my fortress imbued
with subtle assurance that all is as should be
carrying strength in difficulty.
Poem by Debra Asis
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The Pope Francis quote is found in today’s selection in An Ignatian Book of Days by James Martin, a series of daily reflections from the Spiritual Wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Throughout the book we hear the voices of St. Ignatius as well as many great thinkers and writers, long gone and present day, each uniquely revealing the way of finding God in all things.And that is my intention; to find God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality in whatever presents itself to me each day in 2024.
Each day I read, reflect and write on the selection, hoping to articulate the ways in which I come to know God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality via personal experience, impelled by the leading of my inner life.
INVITATION
Would you like to join me? The book is accessible on Amazon. Let me know in the comments to this post and sign up to get an email whenever I post. I would love to read your reflections too, public or private messages welcome!
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Learn more about me at
https://www.debraasis.org
All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being,
Debra Asis
