“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
― Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Don’t pluck too many blackberries this Advent, or this one precious life. At some point, awaken to the fiery presence of God in everything around you, hidden yet always outpouring, always warming, always enfolding, always sustaining, always loving, always forgiving. And when you see the fire, take off your shoes.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, Advent tells us.
You’re almost home.
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Published by Michael J. Sanem
Michael J. Sanem is the author of "Becoming the Good News: A New Approach to Parish Evangelization, and "Your Church Wants to Hear from You: What is the Synod on Synodality?" both published by Liturgical Press. He has also written for Give Us This Day, National Catholic Reporter, God In All Things, US Catholic Magazine, Millennial Journal, the Catholic Key Magazine and the Leaven Catholic Newspaper. A former Bernardin Scholar at Catholic Theological Union, he works in ministry in Kansas City, where he lives with his wife and three sons.
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