A Poem: Inhabitation

livingtreepoetry

Jun 9

God inhabits all his creation,
that he is our mother, father, sister, brother.
That in him we are birthed, tended,
nurtured, surrounded by the rush
of familial love.

And in him are raised.
Mothered, as the pup with eyes closed,
knowing the weight of a warm flank,
tongue and breath upon our wet coat,
the teat for drawing nourishment.

And fathered in the protective arc
of one marking his territory,
bringing home sustenance, ever watchful,
laboring, intent
upon our safe growth.

Yes, God inhabits all his creation
that we are loved, encompassed,
indwelt, brought to life
and imbued with
providential purpose.

That the very breath we draw,
the paths we place our feet,
the substance of our being vibrates
with the hum of life's
vivacious force.

This birthing to become,
energy to expand, grow up and out.
As the tree and its ringed circle of trunk,
its stretch of branch,
profusion of leaves and buds.

And its seed pods,
bed of mulch,
seedlings at its feet.
Even all its singing roots
embedded amongst its neighbours.

Yes, how this God of love
could care even for all of this,
is no longer the lingering question
in our thoughts,
at our lips,

when we see how it is.

When we see through everything,
all radiant with throbbing life,
all passionately conceived by a divine intent,
all individually purposed
and interlinked

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
May 2021

"The human mother can suckle the child with her milk. But our beloved Mother Jesus can feed us with himself. This is what he does when he tenderly and graciously offers us the blessed sacrament, which is the precious food of true life. In mercy and grace he sustains us with all the sweet sacraments. This is what he meant when he said that he was the one that holy church preaches and teaches us. In other words, Christ the Mother is entwined with the wholeness of life which includes all the sacraments, all the virtues, all the virtues of the word-made-flesh, all the goodness that holy church ordains for our benefit. The human mother can tenderly lay the child on her breast, but our tender Mother Jesus can lead us directly into his own tender breast through his sweet broken-open side. Here, he reveals a glimpse of the godhead and some of the joys of paradise with the implicit promise of eternal bliss."
― Julian of Norwich

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