The Eloquence of Truth. Father Ralph Wright
the eloquence
of truth
poems, essays and teaching on life
Ralph Wright, OSB
The Eloquence of Truth
© 2012 Ralph Wright, O.S.B., All Rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover Art © 2012 William E. Mathis, All Rights Reserved
MathisJones Communications, LLC
Book Design by Ellie Jones and William Mathis
MathisJones Communications, LLC
All poetry and hymns written by Fr. Ralph Wright, O.S.B.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data
ISBN# 978-0-9840117-8-0
God Has Called Us Out of Darkness
© GIA Publications 1989
Published by Monograph Publishing, LLC
1 Putt Lane
Eureka, Missouri 63025
636-938-1100
God
has
an
exclusive
love
for
each
person
he
creates.
FOREWORD
A man of sincerity is less interested in defending the truth than in stating it clearly, for he thinks that if the truth is clearly seen it can take care of itself.
Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
On August 3, 2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the great Russian writer, died in Moscow aged 89. In 1970 he won the Nobel prize for literature. I refer several times in this booklet to the text of the talk that, ironically, he was not able to deliver in person being forbidden by the soviet authorities to leave the country and go to Oslo for this purpose. It concerns the role of the artist in the communication of truth. His life and work are a profound testimony that when people are at odds about what is True or what is Good the Artist through Beauty is sometimes able to convince by creating a work of art, an ‘argument,’ that is beyond dispute. With his life and philosophy to inspire us may we continue to pray and work to let our fellow human beings know the truth about our ‘almost divine dignity’ and that this dignity subsists in us from the moment we are conceived..
Ralph Wright OSB
September 2011
PROLOGUE
The immeasurable value of each human being in the eyes of God is an essential part of the Catholic faith. Awareness of this truth gives us a new freedom.
How do we come to believe this truth and how may we communicate it to other people who share our faith?
1) The approach of poetry.
2) The approach of prose.
3) The approach of authoritative teaching.
4) Epilogue
May you find the courage to proclaim Christ, “the same, yesterday, and today and for ever” and the unchanging truths which have their foundation in him. These are the truths that set us free! They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world — including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb.
Pope Benedict XVI Yankee Stadium,
New York 20 April 2008
the eloquence of poetry
the mystery of joy
O HEART OF JESUS HEART MOST PURE
O heart of Jesus, heart most pure,
O altar high and holy,
O purge the pride that is my sin
That I too may be lowly.
O meek and humble, gentle heart,
O heart of godly kindness,
O kindle in my heart a love
To burn away my blindness.
But what if this my heart should blaze
with Seraph conflagration?
I still would offer as my love
A poor though sweet oblation.
To give you, Lord, the kind of love
For which your heart is yearning,
O fire in me that very blaze
with which your heart is burning.
O with the fire of that sweet love
May all my life be kindled.
Until each worldly part of me
To ashes may have dwindled.
O then I’ll long to give my life
And on your cross be broken.
O Lord, your word will be my life
And through my life be spoken.
THE FATHER UTTERS
The Father utters
a Word
which a virgin
receives
the Spirit speaks
and the virgin who listens
utters
the Word
heard
once by the prophets
the Word now speaks
while the world listens
to the mercy and myriad
wonders the Father
utters
ANNUNCIATION
The acute load of a great joy
needles my heart
and seethes within the tissues of my brain —
the thought that this the face of man became,