{"id":4151,"date":"2010-09-11T08:36:13","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T13:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=4151"},"modified":"2010-12-28T00:20:24","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T06:20:24","slug":"the-gift-for-911","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/09\/11\/the-gift-for-911\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Gift&#8221; for 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On this day we remember and pray for the victims of 9\/11, those Christians, Muslims, and Jews, believers and people of good will who lost their lives in that senseless tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in himself, merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth.&#8221; (Second Vatican Council, <em>Nostra aetate<\/em> 3)\u00a0 As we look with esteem upon our Muslim brothers and sisters, let us draw today from the spiritual riches of\u00a0Islam&#8217;s Sufi mystical tradition.<\/p>\n<p>Here are\u00a0some poems by the 14th century Persian Sufi mystic Hafiz, from\u00a0<em>The Gift<\/em> in Daniel Ladinsky&#8217;s translation. The mystical ecstacy of these Islamic poems helps me look at my Christian tradition with fresh eyes, for example as I sing an exuberant\u00a0text such as &#8220;Let the rivers clap their hands.&#8221; (Psalm 98)\u00a0I&#8217;m confident that the God of Jesus Christ, the One Triune God, has spoken powerfully through Hafiz.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211; awr<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Everywhere<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong> <\/strong><\/em>Running<br \/>\nThrough the streets<br \/>\nScreaming,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Throwing rocks through windows,<br \/>\nUsing my own head to ring<br \/>\nGreat bells,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Pulling out my hair,<br \/>\nTearing off my clothes,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Tying everything I own<br \/>\nTo a stick<br \/>\nAnd setting it on<br \/>\nFire.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">What else can Hafuz do tonight<br \/>\nTo celebrate the madness,<br \/>\nThe Joy,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Of seeing God<br \/>\nEverywhere!<br \/>\n<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong> *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Stop Being So Religious<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat<br \/>\nDo sad people have in<br \/>\nCommon?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">It seems<br \/>\nThey have all built a shrine<br \/>\nTo the past<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">And often go there<br \/>\nAnd do a strange wail and<br \/>\nWorship.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">What is the beginning of<br \/>\nHappiness?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">It is to stop being<br \/>\nSo religious<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Like<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">That.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The God Who Only Knows Four Words<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Every<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Child<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Has known God,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Not the God of names,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Not the God of don\u2019ts,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Not the God who ever does<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Anything weird,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">But the God who knows only four words.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">And keeps repeating them, saying<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201cCome Dance with Me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Come<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dance<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Getting the Blame Straight<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Understanding the physics of God,<br \/>\nHis Indivisible Nature,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Makes every universe and atom confess:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I am just a helpless puppet that cannot dance<br \/>\nWithout the movement of His hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dear ones,<br \/>\nThis curriculum tonight is for the advanced<br \/>\nAnd will<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Get all the blame straight,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">End the mental<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Lawsuits<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">That<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Clog<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Brain\u2013<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">H<br \/>\na<br \/>\nl<br \/>\nl<br \/>\ne<br \/>\nl<br \/>\nu<br \/>\nj<br \/>\na<br \/>\nh<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Baby!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth.&#8221; (Second Vatican Council, Nostra aetate 3)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,17],"tags":[977,335,337,336,590,334],"class_list":["post-4151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecumenism","category-liturgical-spirituality","tag-977","tag-hafiz","tag-nostra-aetate","tag-persia","tag-poetry","tag-sufi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;The Gift&quot; for 9\/11 - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2010\/09\/11\/the-gift-for-911\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;The Gift&quot; for 9\/11 - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. 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