The Grandeur Of God

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge |&| shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs --
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

These words are addressed to the People of God here in Monterey, in the State of California, against the background of an extraordinary beauty of land and sea, of snow-capped mountains and deep lakes, oak groves and forests of fir and pine and mighty redwoods, a land among the richest and most fruitful of the earth. Yes, today, these words are addressed to all of us gathered here: "Be careful not to forget the Lord, your God".

St. John Paul II (Deuteronomy, Chapter 8)