Markings 117

A View With a Room

Mary MacKillop, excommunicated from the Catholic Church

in September 1871 and forbidden to take Mass, views the Holy

Sacrament from a small window in her convent room.

To be thus

is to be nothing.

All my life

I’ve worshipped you.

All my life

is given for you.

I am your bride

and you

are my beloved —

And if I cannot

eat your bread

and drink your wine,

I cannot touch

your body

or have your flesh

upon my tongue.

To be thus

is to be nothing.

Constancy and courage

are not enough.

You who gave me

grace —

I require you now:

with the sweet

ecstatic peace

of Jesus.

Jeff Guess

St Francis Xavier's Cathedral

Adelaide, South Australia. 5000

©Jeff Guess 2018