For the 5th week of Lent, Sr. Maria reflects on a poem by the late Welsh Clergyman called “The Coming”:

There is a beautiful poem by the late Welsh clergyman, R S Thomas called ‘ The Coming’.

The poem describes God the Father holding the world in His hands. He asks Jesus to look at the world with its ‘scorched lands’ and rivers  ‘radiant with slime’.

The poem then goes on to describe the reality of the people holding out their ‘thin arms’ as if looking for food, for hope but the trees are bare and there is a sense of hopelessness.

Then the final sentence of the poem that touches me so deeply I can’t find words to describe how it makes me feel.
The Son simply says, ‘Let me go there’.

Perhaps in this last week of Lent  before Holy Week, take some time to reflect on the people you serve as an SSVP member. What are they stretching out their arms hoping to receive? Are there times you sense hopelessness and if so what causes this. In these moments, simply remember the words of the Son, ‘Let me go there’……we are never alone….He is with us always!