Pentecostal Nostalgia (old men looking back)

Remember the day the Spirit barged in

and made hotheads of us all?

Even though our mouths took off like spooked horses,

our nonsense threw no one:

they all rode it out with perfect calm and comprehension.

Source: todayscatholicnews.org

We danced a single body,

a corporate tango…

spun like tops,

caught like prisoners,

dipped like believers in the Jordan.

On every wet shoulder

a dove descended

smiling well pleased.

 

The nets, which for years we kept

near to tearing

with our catch of flapping desires,

suddenly burst and emptied:

we wanted nothing but the feeling

that everyone should feel the same.

 

We sold it all,

spread it out,

and saved our souls in so doing.

 

Those were the days…

drunken like springtime,

three times more alive

than ever before.  Looking back,

it's a wonder that we survived.

Greg Kennedy, SJ works as a spiritual director at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario. He is author of Reupholstered Psalms volumes I, II, and III; and Amazing Friendships between Animals and Saints (Novalis Press).

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