Even now they enter me
like a humming tide of light,
a bright cloud that waters
the Earth with veriditas,
the greening power of life.
What is it I call a dream
yet see with my eyes open?
The calf in the womb,
spoked wheels of light,
stars in an ovate universe,
a brightness that makes my soul tremble.
I aged but three when alone
I witnessed this splendor.
Fear stitched my lips for
I could not know what seal
God placed on my heart.
I cried and weakened while
the world about me shimmered.
Like Anna, widowed prophetess,
years I lived bereft as vision
after vision left me bedridden.
At last, Anna glimpsed the child
and knew deliverance.
So when Jutta, my teacher,
my sole keeper, observed
me troubled, guessed
my visions, God enfolded
me in His mantle.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…