Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

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Aspects of Loneliness, No. 2

August 20, 2022 

A lonely feeling
I don’t really miss anyone in particular
At least not at the level of awareness
Maybe there doesn’t need to be a personification of loneliness

There could just be a hole in my heart,
One that no longer aches
But has yet to begin to heal.
A grieving that is ever-present

A grieving for what?
A long hoped-for relationship?
Something from long ago that is unresolved?
Out of reach, inaccessible, unidentifiable,
Yet so real?

There is one I will miss
That will bring a deep loneliness 
A long marriage brings forth another presence
One beyond and outside either one of us
Yet in us together
Sacrament
Oneness

©2022 Thomas W. Cummins

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Posted in Faith, Family, Homelife, loneliness, Marriage, Personal, Poetry | 2 Comments »

Aspects of Loneliness, No. 1

August 11, 2022


Something seems to be missing
There is an emptiness
But is it really empty?
Perhaps there is a presence
A presence that cannot be grasped
Something that is always there
Yet somehow missing
An emptiness
A longing
A longing that feels like loneliness

©2022 Thomas W. Cummins

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Posted in Faith, loneliness, Personal, Poetry | 1 Comment »

I’ve never been me before

October 5, 2018

With the early morning fog
All was white-gray
Seeing nothing for more than 100 yards
Islands were not to be seen
Nor the far shore

Silence
Well, not quite
Soft, gentle movement heard
Water caressing the rock-strewn
Beach

I was thinking, for me,
This is a new experience
And certainly so
On this day, in this place
At this age

Who I am today is new
What I experience today is new
All I see and all I hear, new
The me of now
Has never existed before

I’ve never been this me before
I should be in awe of everything
Tired of nothing
Open to the grace
Of all things

©2018 Thomas W. Cummins

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Posted in Faith, gratitude, Minnesota, Nature, Personal, Personal Growth, Poetry, Solitude, Spirituality | 5 Comments »

I watch and wait

July 16, 2017

—-∞∞—-

Thundering, blowing rain
A squall
Wind-whipped leaves
Vegetables in the prisoners’ garden
Planted in the housing unit yard
By the fence

While a desolate place
Nurturing rain
Growth
Symbols of life’s hope
Grace overcoming bleakness
Pushing aside despair

Sheltered under an overhang
I watch and wait
Far from the chapel
Where men also wait
Four locked gates away
I watch and wait

© 2017 Thomas W. Cummins

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Posted in Faith, Ministry, Nature, Personal, Poetry, Prison Ministry, Spirituality | 6 Comments »

A seamless series of nows

May 31, 2017

Slightly darker
On the pale carpet of the bunkhouse
My socks are located
In the dim light
I get dressed

It’s that point
Neither night nor day
Muted even further
By towering trees
In the woods

An eastern horizon
Gives no hint of daybreak
Nor any hint of what the day may hold
What a seamless series of nows
May present

©2017 Thomas W. Cummins

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Posted in Faith, Nature, Personal, Poetry, Spirituality, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A reflection on Matthew 5:38-48

February 16, 2017

A reflection on Matthew 5:38-48 delivered during a prison communion service

We seem to be living more and more in times of division – deep division. There is a tendency, a human tendency, to group and label anyway. In scriptures we find the bad and the good, the just and the unjust, your neighbor and your enemy, the sheep and the goats.

So if we look at today’s society, we have divisions that are pretty normal. But there seems to be, now, an animosity, a distrust, a disdain, a willingness to judge rather than engage and listen.

There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground in many instances. There are those who love the Packers, but hate the Patriots, love the Cardinals but hate the Cubs, love or hate Democrats or Republicans, love or hate immigrants, refugees, people of color, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, unions, Planned Parenthood, the NRA.

But don’t we live in a pluralistic society with many philosophies, many viewpoints, and many beliefs? Brothers, that should be our strength, not a crack in our foundation. I am reminded of the strength when different entities are brought together. In biblical times, mud and straw made bricks. Today, carbon fiber-reinforced compounds are used to build jet fighters.

Why shouldn’t a society made up of many separate parts be stronger, more effective, more resilient, more growthful, and more life-giving? Sometimes what is needed is more confidence in our own principles and beliefs so that we can respond to differences with more tolerance, more patience, more humility … more love … that we may all reveal ourselves to be children of our heavenly Father.

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Posted in Criminal Justice, Faith, Ministry, politics, Preaching, Prison Ministry, Social Justice | 3 Comments »

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