Dear friends,
Next Sunday September 21 we have the second talk of the Sunday Theology series on Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Kitchen Hymns.
The title of the talk will be Do You Believe in God? And Other Questions Worth Answering Slowly .
Please if you can read before hand the section of poems Do You Believe in God? from page 12 to 27. We will focus on the poem with the same title page 27. Here is the text:
Do You Believe in God?
I turn to you,
not because I trust you,
or believe in you,
but because I need a direction for my need. You—
the space between me and death; you—
the hum at the heart of an atom; you—
nothing; you—my favorite emptiness; you—
what I turned away from and will turn to; you—
my ache made manifest in address; you, silent you,
what my friends saw as they died; you
contain what’s not containable; you—
shape of my desire—(Ó Tuama, Pádraig. Kitchen Hymns, p. 24).
The talks are offered both in person and online, and will be video-recorded. The YouTube link and the handout will be available on the livestream page.
Alongside the Sunday series, I am also leading the Thursday Reading Group (6:45–8:15 pm). We are reading Borders and Belonging. The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times by Pádraig Ó Tuama and Glenn Jordan. This group will be in person only, and a separate registration is required.
I encourage you to get hold of Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Kitchen Hymns, which will accompany our reflections throughout the series.
I look forward to welcoming you and sharing these rich conversations together.
All blessings,
Fr. Luigi Gioia,
Theologian in Residence
