This month’s blog features a poem written by former Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Jim Petkiewicz called Gathered Wisdom, which can be found in the Maryknoll Lay Missioner Creative Works and Personal Papers collection. Jim and his family were missioned in Mexico from 1993 to 2001. The poem, written in 2002, is a prayer for Africa. Please enjoy it, along with some photos of Jim’s time in Mexico. [Click on each image for its caption.]
Gathered Wisdom
Ancestors
Our loved ones
our life and hope
that gathered wisdom
accumulated
in the soil
in the land
the earth
the animals
the plants the sky
The spirit of our people
shared
linking us
calling us forth
‘tis the ancestors in the
voices
of us all
in the children
and their faces
receptacles of light
shining forth
big, gleaming teeth
in fantastic smiles
joyous waves
and buoyant shouts
seen
shared
and experienced
only if we are
present
striving
connecting
and hoping against all
in diverse unity,
with our God of small joys.
