Rosemary’s Quiet Garden at Dunmow, Essex. photo by Mr G.
Quiet Garden
In the Quiet Garden birds sing antiphonally in the monastery of the air.
Ducks murmur gossip across the pond informing prayer[!], as a bee hovers lazily over new mown grass.
Carefully manicured borders teem with joyful colour as plants flower, gratefully supping May-time air fuelling their thirst for new life.
Nearby, a church bell, a single, insistent chime, repeating, marking the moment; calling to prayer. Insects of varying kind respond, their plainchant lifting our souls.
Nature speaks to nature nurturing all Creation within, where God waits to draw us into the Divine heart.
Roses in the Garden at Dunmow. Photo by Mr G.
Mr G. 24th May 2025. [inspired by Rosemary’ Drew’s Garden at Dunmow, Essex, offered as part of the Quiet Garden movement, as a place of spiritual refreshment and re-creation]
St Mark’s day is normally celebrated on April 25th, except in years when Easter Week takes precedent. In 2025, therefore, it is kept on April 29th.
One of the key words in the Gospel occurs 42 times in St Mark’s Gospel – the word is euthus” (εὐθύς), which is translated as ‘immediately’, or ‘straightway’. The use of this word gives the Gospel account a sense of urgency. There is an emphasis on the active and dynamic ministry of Jesus. My poem ‘euthus’ below is inspired by the word and its meaning.
Euthus – immediately!
Straightway, he takes up the pen, dips it in the ink: words flow onto parchment at once.
Getting it down immediately as readers wait: impatient to hear this story of faith.
We long for phrases that awaken and challenge the heart; ideas that lift souls in search of meaning; feet, itching for travel, on our pilgrimage to God, are now hope-filled.
Eagerly, we follow way-markers, constructed not with stones but with the pen.
Our souls need feeding and our minds are thirsty for truth. The parchment lays itself open to the pen, which breathlessly recounts the story: the wonderful Good News that enlivens us.
Straightway, words take shape: ‘The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God……..’
On March 19th, the Church remembered St. Joseph, husband to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though often rather like the ‘man in background’, Joseph played a vital and significant role in the birth of Jesus and did so in obedience to the will of God. God communicated that will through the message of an angel and did so on 4 occasions. These dreams are all narrated by the writer of St. Matthew’s Gospel. (Chapter 1 verse 18ff, and Chapter 2) In the first dream the angel assures Joseph that, despite his misgivings, it is God who has chosen him to be Mary’s husband and watch over her as she is pregnant with the son of God, Jesus. He is to be the protector, guide and provider of love and security to the Holy Family, to Jesus in his infancy.
The other dreams are instructions from God. In the 2nd dream, Joseph is warned to flee with Mary and Jesus when King Herod ordered the massacre of the innocent babies and young children in order to do away with the one who might be a threat to Herod’s kingdom. Joseph flees to Egypt. The third dream tells Joseph that Herod’s death means it is safe to return home but the 4th dream tells Joseph that there is still some possibility of harm so Joseph must avoid Judea and settle instead in Galilee.
Taking the theme of the first dream, a friend wrote a poem which she gave to me as a special gift. I have her permission to make it known to others, so here it is.
Joseph’s Carol ~ An Angel called my name
Blessed am I, blessed of all men. When dark had quenched the light of day A holy angel came; an angel called my name I am not good, not free from sin, Yet, as I slept and dreaming lay An angel called my name.
A simple artisan, someone Of humble birth, thinks not to see A holy angel bright. An angel came that night Through cool moonlight to sleeping world, From cloud-streaked sky to speak to me, An angel came that night.
Though humble, yet I count as one Whose lineage of David came. The angel seemed so near: the angel voice was clear: “And Mary shall bring forth a Son. God wills that Jesus be his name” The angel voice was clear.
And when that Holy Child was born, In Bethlehem, of David’s line, The angels came to see. The angel melody the dark sky filled. So from that dawn I played my part in God’s design. Oh God. My thanks to Thee.
Mr G's Ponderings 