Tenth Meditation

(The Spiritual Canticle - Stanza 18-19)

"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you." (1)


Shelter

The cravings of the senses caged
Her soul in a chaotic churn;
Against her spirit's peace, they waged
A war to coerce, strike, and burn.

Now deprived of their nourishment,
These cold reptiles lie in wait:
To gorge themselves on her, they're bent,
With appetites that never sate.

She urges Him to hide within
The inner sanctum of her place;
Where spirit is shielded from sin,
And gardens are guarded by grace.

Beyond the reaches of her foes,
Hidden deeply in her abode,
A wellspring of His essence flows --
In pure spirit, He is bestowed.

He shelters her from all her grief;
Still, senses linger like a thief.


May the Pure Spirit of Jesus dwell in the deepest silence of our beings, hidden from the turmoil of our senses.

1. Romans 8:7-11


(c) Paul Buis, 2005