A Devotee Speaks Poem by Daniel Brick

When I was very young
I heard a summons well up
within me, like a fountain
of fresh water. I did not know
what to think, but I knew what
to do. I joined a band of wandering
devotees, also summoned, also
confused. We were a sorry company,
lean, pock-marked, smelly, often
sickly. We walked and walked
through forests, villages, high hills,
tundra, and only stopped to rest
at isolated lakes or deserted valleys.
Priests and parishioners alike banned
from entering their churches. We knelt
in a semi-circle at the steps below
the great wooden doors decorated
by carvings of the Savior's life.
We prayed fiercely in the open air
and sometimes raised our scrawny
voices in hymns. But we knew our place
was not among them, and withdrew
before they emerged from God's Holy House.

We withdrew back into the forests
and deserts of God's original creation.
We prayed everyday for God's grace
to descend and bless every living thing.
One day an Angel appeared suddenly
among us, shining and glowing, and he spoke
gently in our hearts. He led us in a forgotten
dance, a dance of celestial things, with music
heard in our hearts accompanying our movements.
It was daylight when we began our dance-worship,
it was deepest night when we stopped. We realized
we were living angelic lives. We closed the night
kneeling in communal prayer and did not notice
the Angel had withdrawn... And then each of us
felt the Hand of God touch his head. Again and again
we felt that touch, both gentle and firm, absolutely
a touch of grace. And soon afterwards a dozen once
weak and confused men strode out of the wilderness,
fully prepared to spread God's Joy to the world.

My brothers and sisters in Jesus,
I could tell you many things, if you are ready
to hear them. Or I could stay silent and disappear
like a cloud of morning mist in the sunlight.
I could tell you of a life of service. I could
tell you of a perpetual thirst. I could describe
a Temple within your hearts you will never finish
building. I could tell how we pray that your lives
become a marriage of Goodness and Beauty, and behold
how heavenly light shines over this blessed marriage.
And the angels far above us, wrapped in heavenly glory,
see your humanity expand to angelic dimensions.
Trust me, there are so many things awaiting you.
Oh! Oh! Everything will unfold before you,
open out, and become a thousand times more
than itself, and keep opening out into Space
and Time as they steadily become an Eternity
that brings you forever into God's presence....