…For the Feast of the Sacred Heart…

Sanctuary of Heart

Sanctuary of place and person-
neither containing,
neither constraining,
All embracing:
A refuge of perspective
on infinite You.
A new slant of light,
a peripheral humming
toward which I bend in bright fascination
of always and everywhere You;
of the tousled and wild diversity
that is You;
You who named each one
who claim each one,
who loves and loves again and loves still.
You who know each contour, texture,
and elemental specificity of creation
and call it all good.
You, whose beckon and draw
is the metronome by which
I rest and journey.
You, the moon and sun alike—
You, whose shadow
is both cross and wing.

Sanctuary people, sanctuary spaces:
both respite from the journey and threshold
between forgetting and remembering
that you named us Beloved;
that all you made is Blessed;
that this is enough, and we are not alone.

—Kimberly M. King