High profile Catholic nun Sister Wendy Beckett has published Speaking to the Heart, an anthology of classic poems which she claims are sources of inspiration and comfort to those who read them.
The author has had exposure in the media before as host of Sister Wendy’s Odyssey where she investigates the history of painting in Europe.
She demonstrated there, as she's done in this collection of poems, that she has a well trained eye for artistic subtlety, something that she isn't afraid to express.
Included are unknown and well known poets including John Keats, D.H. Lawrence, Seamus Heaney, William Wordsworth, and Robert Frost.
In her introduction, Sister Beckett claims to have chosen them because they were "a goodly collection of poetry that was dear [to me]", ones that left her with emotions of "longing " and wonder", ones that alluded to the four cardinal virtues of the Catholic church: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, which she believed to express the inner desires of the human heart.
"Most poems give up their secret sweetly and easily. If we are willing to listen not only to what they say, but how they say it, they speak very clearly and directly to us, heart to heart".
In this, her third book, I found myself enjoying many of the verses, including one by named County Asylum, by John Clare:
I long for scenes where man has never trod "
For scenes where women never smiled or wept "
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly swept,
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So, let me lie "
The grass below; above, the vaulted sky.
The poems prove moving, as they cover a variety of themes, including longing, wonder, heavy heartedness, and courage. They explore what it is that human beings struggle with and enjoy, and if you're someone who appreciates the poetic form, you would certainly enjoy this tome.
In spite of the author's enthusiasm and the careful thought that she's invested, it's clear that Sister Beckett approaches her poetry with a worldview which, although sometimes dressed in Christian language, resembles Mysticism.
For her, the problem with the world is not rebellion against God, but "irreverence, or, if you like, disrespect" of objects and one's fellow man.
Using the writings of the apostle Paul, she presumes that every person is a home-sick citizen of heaven, regardless of their status as Christians or non-Christians and has no Biblical concept of sin whatsoever, divine judgement, objective truth, and even the distinction between believers and non-believers in Christ; to her, all humanity is the same, regardless of where people stand in relation to Christ.
She sees no problem in being a non-Christian, as long as one believes in something that provides hope. On page 22, she asserts, "If we have true faith, we believe that those we have loved and lost " people and animals- have moved into the "world of light' and we long to follow them".
The author's perspective is directly at odds with how God views the world: the Scriptures divide the world between those who have the love of God and those who don't (John 3:36), and states in numerous contexts and occasions that those who reject God's Son will be eternally judged (Revelation 20:11-15).
Sister Beckett's worldview is very worldly, and all the more surprising that a public member of the Catholic order would express such beliefs. It's in direct contradiction with Philippians 3:19-21, which describes the true citizenship of the Christian in contrast to the pagan. According to Paul, the non-Christian is completely unconcerned with heavenly matters, busied only with the fickleness of day-to-day existence.
But what of the poetry in Sister Beckett's collection? They've been written with skill and consideration, but although they touch on spiritual matter, they're not, of themselves, spiritual. They may move and sway us, but they're verses written exclusively by human hands and are thus written with sinful hands.
At this point, it's worth recalling that the Bible itself is loaded with poetry, with lines that describe the physical world, the human condition, relationship with God, and even human bodies (i.e. Song of Solomon). In fact, almost every book of the Bible, including Genesis, Isaiah, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the gospels, Philippians, and Revelation, contains some poetic device, even those with historical narratives.
Sadly enough, Sister Beckett makes no reference to any of it, which is all the more disappointing, given that the poetry of the Bible is the spiritual verse that Christians refer to.
Although human beings penned the Bible, God inspired its poems and their poignancy are all the stronger because they accurately describe our condition. God is the manufacturer of us and all our languages (c.f. Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel), and His poetry has an implicit power that no human poets have.
In 1999, the lead singer of the band U2, Bono, wrote an introduction to Canongate's Book of Psalms.
In it, he wrote:
"The words of the psalms were as poetic as they were religious, and [King David] feel like to me, the blues. Man shouting at God " Abandonment and displacement are the stuff of my favourite psalms. The Psalter may be a font of gospel music, but for me it's despair that the psalmist really reveals and the nature of his special relationship with God. Honesty, even to the point of anger. "How long, Lord? Will thou hide thyself forever?" (Psalm 89), or "Answer me when I call" (Psalm 5)."
Even for a contemporary poet like Bono, it's the words of God that express our ultimate realities, and show us how magnificent His creation is.
I may never have read Keats, Wordsworth, or Lawrence, poets whom I have much liking for, and my life would only be slightly poorer for it. But without God's word - the one that lights a lamp under my feet and illuminates my paths (Psalm 119:105) - I cannot live a day in good relationship with Him.
If I am a citizen of heaven, then His poetry is of greater significance, because it spurs me on to live as a citizen of that territory. Sister Beckett's book shows that she has lost her way on God, but if God's poetry is anything to go by, she can always come back.
