Dance

"Take this 

all of you 

and eat."

She pointed her toe.

"This is my Blood

poured out for you.

She spun and  twirled

her body

His Body

in her who felt His song.

She spun like a hot-fire

a child needing to dance

before the Element of Earth

the gift to the People of God.

With a fresh and flaming smile

her face lifted the moment of joy

her frame alight 

with the wonder of childhood

attentive to holy awe.

I smiled at God's wondrous grace

as her mother grinned her Consecration hymn.

*Human beings can't do without formulas and dogma, but these must always be preceded by a way of being that expresses in action and receptivity the heart of what the formulas or dogmas are seeking to communicate.  In the end, faith comes not from indoctrination from the outside, but from the Spirit of God bursting out from inside us.

-Alan Jones

*The Christian life is a battle and a struggle, but it is not without humor.  We can laugh because the final victory has been won, and we can laugh because there are many ways of believing that truth.

-Alan Jones

*Probing doubt is the handmaid of faith.

-Alan Jones

*I don't want you to go away with the impression that there's any - you know- any inconveniences involved in the religious life.  I mean a lot of people don't take it up just because they think it's going to involve a certain amount of nasty application and perseverance -  you know what I mean?...As soon as we get out of chapel here, I hope you'll accept from me a little volume I've always admired..."God Is My Hobby."

-J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey