By DONALD DeMARCO
He is now a Catholic priest with the Companions of the Cross and working in Houston, Texas. On my desk sits a souvenir he sent me from Fatima depicting Mary and the three children to whom she appeared. The words, inscribed in Portuguese, indicate that he is praying for me from that holy city. It is a token of his thanks and friendship.
When he first entered my philosophy class, he was an atheist. Grace works in unexpected ways. It is always God who is in charge of its dispensation. We do our best while continuing to hope for the best. And every once in a while, the unexpected happens and we give thanks.
The catalyst in Carlos’ conversion was a poem by George Herbert, a seventeenth-century metaphysical poet, priest, theologian, and orator. Shortly before he passed away at age 36, he sent his collection of unpublished poems to his friend who was also a publisher instructing him to publish them if he thought they might “turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul,” and to otherwise burn them.
The poems were published in a book that went through eight editions in a relatively short period of time. Today they are found in standard anthologies of poetry. Henry Vaughan, another distinguished, poet said of Herbert that he was “a most glorious saint and seer.”
The passage of time does not hinder the passage of grace. Herbert’s poem that I used in class is entitled The Pulley. It develops a religious theme in a way that is easy to follow, but lofty in significance and unified by a clever play on the word “restlessness.”
St. Augustine’s most repeated line is that “our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” The Pulley pays homage to these words though in a less quotable manner.
The Pulley begins as a kind of story. When God created man, He showered him with many blessings: riches, strength, beauty, wisdom, honor, pleasure. But God decided that He would keep the “rest” of His gifts, which was “rest,” for Himself. “Let him keep the rest (all the gifts other than rest), but keep them with repining restlessness; Let him be sick and weary, that at least, If goodness lead him not, Yet weariness may toss him to my breast.”
Man’s restlessness, his dissatisfaction with all his other gifts, will lead him to find rest in God. The ultra-rich are not content with merely being ultra-rich. Their heart’s desire is for rest, that peace of soul that passes understanding. I recall Patty Duke talking about her move to a luxury apartment and within a few days feeling not happy but “restless.”
God is a pulley who draws man to Himself because only in Him do we overcome that restlessness we experience when we seek rest elsewhere. The highly acclaimed motion picture Citizen Kane is based on the theme that restlessness increases as one’s material possessions increase. The accumulation of money can interfere with personal authenticity. As Charles Foster Kane confesses, “If I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been very great.”
We desire, above all, God. Everything else eventually breeds discontent. Francis Thompson’s 182-line poem, The Hound of Heaven, is the most expansive and perhaps the finest portrayal in poetry of the need for God and the futility of seeking everything that is not God. The essence of the poem is captured at the close of the first stanza: “All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.”
Life offers us moments of contentment, but not lasting joy. We are tempted to turn these moments into idols, but soon find that they quickly lose their flavor. It is as if, as the character in Thompson’s poem states, we have “cling to the whistling mane of every wind.”
In the case of my student, grace converges from several intermediate sources, yet all originating from the same original source in Christ. Grace is available and can arrive in the most unexpected ways and in the most unlikely places. Sir Derek Wolcott, a poet and Nobel Laureate, has said: “The poet complains and points out the discontent that lies at the heart of man, the individual man, and how it can be redeemed.” George Herbert has beautifully stated both the problem and the answer. Our discontent is a divine discontent, one that urges us to seek our final contentment in God.
It is most encouraging to know that God is a pulley. He has already won half the battle for us.
There are many rewards associated with teaching. Some are monetary, some are honorific. But for me, there is no higher reward than playing a role, however small, in the promotion of a student from darkness to light, from restlessness to rest in and service for the Lord.
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