Fr. Rolheiser column, poem share ideas

Facebooktwittermail

To the Editor:
I thought Father  Ron Rolheiser’s column “No one controls access to the Lord” that was in The Catholic Messenger recently was the best he’s ever written.
I bought a book of poetry at a book sale and in it I found this poem. It is the same vein as Fr. Rolheiser’s column.
Ad Coelum
At the muezzin’s call for prayer
The kneeling faithful thronged the square,
And on Pushkara’s lofty height
The dark priest chanted Brahma’s might.
Amid a monastery’s weeds
An old Franciscan told his beads,
While to the synagogue there came
A Jew, to praise Jehovah’s name.
The one great God looked down and smiled
And counted each his loving child;
For Turk and Brahmin, monk and Jew
Had reached him through the gods they knew.
— Harry Romaine
The dates of the birth and death of all the poets represented in the book indicate that they all died 90 years ago or earlier. Most go back to the 1700s and 1800s. So the ideas Fr. Rolheiser expressed have been around for a long time.
Teresa Mottet
Fairfield


Support The Catholic Messenger’s mission to inform, educate and inspire the faithful of the Diocese of Davenport – and beyond! Subscribe to the print and/or e-edition, or make a one-time donation, today!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Facebooktwittermail
Posted on