Of God and Man

Father Andy Davy, MIC, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Plano, Illinois, also writes poetry. Here, we share some of his work and his commentaries on that work in the third installment of a weekly series.

Lent 2020

A Priest turns
Funeral Director
In the Last Hour of Chapel,
The Burial of the Lord.

Entombed within
The Tabernacle,
A Key clicks
The Bronze Stone shut.

One by one
Lights darken
As Magdala and Mary remain,
Paying their Last Respects,

Before the Door closes,
And the Night
Of Sacramental Sleep begins:
The Burial of the Lord.

"How long, O Lord?"
The mourning cry unquenched,
A Dove unable to find dry land.
The Great Fast of Lent.

This was the first of my pandemic poems. It describes the heart-wrenching experience of having to close the doors of my Adoration chapel due to the COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020. Time slowed down as I placed Jesus in the tabernacle, not sure when He would be placed on the altar again. Good Friday was felt in the hearts of those who adored Him in that Holy Hour before the shut-down. May we never take for granted the gift of the Eucharist.

"Priorities"

"Eating Ritz crackers
Before the steak,
Is the click on Facebook
At every break.

Settle for a joy
In the shallows?
Depriving deep-think
In the hallows.

But if your courage
Is sincere,
Step into the gap
That you most certainly fear.

The space of silence."

This poem reminds us of the call to go deeper with the Lord, while seeing in us the tendency to stay in the comfortable shallows.