Senses and Soul Searching
Please join me in reading a poem together. There is inspiration and provocation offered through this poem by Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone Benedetti), a 13th century Franciscan friar, called "How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures". I encourage you to read it a couple of times and then return to each stanza slowly, one by one, while you meditate upon each of your beautiful senses as a way in which you experience the essence of the Creator in each sensual announcement of that Presence. This is not a seeking of God "out there". This is an acknowledgement that the Divine already inhabits you in every way that you experience every thing.
Dr. Kirk Webb
Director of the Celtic Center
"How the Soul Through the Senses Finds God in All Creatures"
O Love, divine Love, why do You lay siege to me?
In a frenzy of love for me, You find no rest.
From five sides You move against me,
Hearing, sight, taste, touch, and scent.
To come out is to be caught; I cannot hide from You.
If I come out through sight I see Love
Painted in every form and color,
Inviting me to come to You, to dwell in You.
If I leave through the door of hearing,
What I hear points only to You, Lord;
I cannot escape Love through this gage.
If I come out through taste, every flavor proclaims:
“Love, divine Love, hungering Love!
You have caught me on Your hook, for you want to reign in me.”
If I leave through the door of scent
I sense You in all creation; You have caught me
And wounded me through that fragrance.
If I come out through the sense of touch
I find Your lineaments in every creature;
To try to flee from You is madness.