Holy Hotness: Spiritual & Prophetic Poetry for Everyday Faith Life

By Xlibris US

No where else is known the use of quadrants surrounding poetry. This is a book of passionate poetry. 'Holy Hotness, Sweet Disorder, Spiritual Warrior, Discipline with Purpose, Hyperlink, are some of the forty-four themes of poetry. The introductory page for each poem prepares the heart and mind for prayer . The author's imagery and mystical rhymes touch the very pulse of life. The quest for the spirit is balanced with lightheartedness. The page of "wonder/write/share" helps to deepen the meaning. The fourth quadrant contains a poem by a recognized poet on the theme. This book will challenge you, and the added "unbaptized verses" will entertain you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499058925

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Larry Baumann. 625981

ISBN: Softcover     978-1-4990-5891-8

ISBN: EBook          978-1-4990-5892-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 08/27/2014

Xlibris LLC

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HOLY HOTNESS

Spiritual & prophetic poetry for everyday faith life

A moral workbook of forty-four themes & reflection questions.

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LARRY BAUMANN

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O FOR LOFTY LANGUANGE, POETIC PASSION, SWEEPING IMAGINATION, SPIRITUAL DEPTH OF MEANING, MYSTICAL RHYMES, THE SPIRIT AND THE PULSE OF LIFE, AND A SPRINKLE OF LAUGHTER OF THE LIGHT!

The subject of this book is the quest for the spirit which is more lofty than any imagery can portray, though imagery does enlightens us. I call myself a prophetic poet, a catholic observer, a keen moralist, a lover of humor and earthy at times. I’m a generous borrower of other people’s works. The spiritual quest is to know and follow the Lord in and for this generation.

Welcome to this my second book of evangelization. A new wave of younger generation of atheists, agnostics and doubtful believers needs to hear the good news of Jesus. A whole generation of adult Christians unable or unwilling to share the faith needs the same. I don’t know my religion well enough, they say. This generation seems sloppy in its attention to God, and has made a career of not listening to what Jesus did and would do today. You and I need an uplift constantly. Poetry can act as a energizer and a spiritual mentor by helping the reader to focus more clearly on each theme.

Some would blame God for the wrongs of this world. The problem is not God, but humanity. Abuse of children is not caused by God. What has gone wrong with government, religion, and schools of education is not caused by God.

Poets help us get in touch with our inner voice and that which otherwise we do not allow to surface. The task is to script those words and images. For example the poem titled, The Search.

No one could tell me where my soul might be

I searched for God, but God eluded me

I sought my brother out, and found all three. (Ernest Crosby 1856-1907)

The poet is one who inscribes things unapparent in apparent fabrications. (Zoroaster) Poetry is a compound of freshness, wordplay and imagery. You taste like strawberries!

"Through rifts of clouds the moon’s soft silver slips." (from A Memory by Ina Coolbrith)

Jesus delighted in all who came to believe in Him as Messiah of God. Jesus was nourished in spirit by every soul on the road to salvation. My hope through the poetry of this book is to continue his delight and joy by nourishing our spirits. Propel us forward, Lord, with the challenge to evangelize and develop just consciences. As a retired priest this book is my way of service. It comes from the heart. I love to do it.

"The origin of poetry lies in a thirst for wilder beauty than earth supplies." -Edgar Allan Poe

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What is unique in this book is the use of spiritual poetry in a didactic way by which it brings heightened awareness of relational presence through opening the mind and heart to the wisdom of the moment. This is achieved by use of four steps: each theme of this book contains quadrants—first of a preparatory page, then my authored poem, then a wonder and write page, and a fourth page containing a poem of a recognized guest poet. The themes are aimed at everyday living with faith and depth. The prep page is vital to open the heart for the Lord to nourish our higher spiritual life. Commentary helps to pray the poetry like the many aids that are used in the praying of Sacred Scripture. My authored poem is composed with the use of many resources. The third page for personal writing and shared ideas helps deepen spiritual awareness, since spiritual life is the growing consciousness of God’s presence within. The final quadrant of each theme conveys a guest poem that seeks to embody the eternal. Unique, I believe, is this system of quadrants to stimulate the common searcher for the divine.

Some unbaptized verses are found before the conclusion of the book.

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No human science can equal the divine science. Both require a digging for the nuggets of knowledge and wisdom. Astronomy and natural sciences thrill me. The joys and excitement of discovery abound even more in the spiritual quest. My challenge is to convey that exciting pathway of faith in this book.

The spiritual is its own attraction. It is a plus to highlight it. Poetry is my way of sharing of the good news of Jesus in multiple ways. Through poetry we are lifted to higher faith. Religion often is humdrum tokenism, pure delusion, dutiful, guilt-ridden, and boring. The excitement is missed. The Lord is happiness to me. excitement of the spiritual life is also searching in mystery. My desire is to convey the attractiveness through these presentations.

Poetry is that impassioned arrangement of words (whether in verse or prose) which embodies the exaltation, the beauty, the rhythm, and the pathetic truth of life. (Richard Le Gallienne)

I am an optimistic skeptic in regard to church matters. I’ve seen too much gender bias, stonewalling of reform, sexual cover ups. misuse of power, lack of collaboration, denominationalism, etc. which leaves no reason to believe that there will not always be the weeds and the wheat in church leaders and the bureaucracy. Why believe or pretend otherwise? I seek to tell the truth with love. Each generation needs to reapply the teaching of Jesus to its particular situation without a stifling overlay of tradition (small t). We fix our eyes on the future without fixation on the past. Jesus is the way. He taught the commandments, the law and the prophets while relating with love to the present. In all of this and in Jesus I am optimistic.

Poetry is the expression—under the light of the imagination—of the unfamiliar beauty of the world, the beauty that is the ‘smile upon the face of truth’. Poetry is the revelation of the strange in the familiar, of the eternal in the transitory. It is the impassioned cry of the heart in the presence of the wonder of life. (Edwin Markham)

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Gracious appreciation are due to helpers for the preparation of this book to John James, Carol Dejardin, Barbara Knowles and the many authors whose works I have used for resources.

THEMES

presented in alphabetical order

 AMERICA OR AMERICA

 APOLOGETICS

 ARDENT LONGING

 BUILDING A CIVILIZATION OF LOVE — SOCIAL JUSTICE

 CONSOLATION AND DESOLATION

 DEATH AND RISING

 DISCIPLINE WITH PURPOSE

 DIVINE PATHOS

 ECHOCARDIOGRAM

 EVOLUTION

 FAITH WARRIOR

 FIRE ON THE EARTH

 FOREVER FRIEND

 FREEDOM

 FROM THE PULPIT

 GARDENING OF THE SOUL

 GOOD GRIEF

 HAIL

 HOLY HOTNESS

 HOW YOU HUMBLE US!

 HYPERLINK

 INTUITION

 I SURRENDER

 JOURNEY BACK TO GOD AND TO CHURCH

 LOVING THE PERSON YOU ARE STUCK WITH!

 MINDLESS MISTAKES

 MOSES, MESSIAH, AND MUHAMMED

 MOTHER MARY

 MYSTICAL CORPORATION

 ON BEING YOUR OWN PERSON

 OUTSIDE THE BOX

 PARENT AND CHILD

 PRAYER THAT GOD SAYS YES TO

 PROPHETIC TRADITION

 REPENTANT JOY

 RITE OF PASSAGE

 SENIOR AGE SPIRITUALITY

 SOUL POWER

 SPIRIT BEINGS—YOU AND ME

 SPIRITUAL PARADOXES & DUALITIES

 SWEET DISORDER

 TAU THAT LUCIFER ABHORS

 VIRTUE OF HOPE

 WAITING IS WASTEFUL… . . ER, MAYBE

 UNBAPTIZED VERSES

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What is your dream for America?

1. Walls of religious divisions falling or prevailing scandalous divisions?

2. Common good of people or primitive might-is-right governing?

3. Living wage for all or poverty level for minimum wage earners?

4. Schools systems teaching atheism or knowledge and morality

5. Obesity and indulgence or self-discipline and exercise?

6. Seeing of selves in God’s likeness or killing for the fun of it?

7. Faith in God’s revelation or mere natural religion?

8. Nationalism at our borders or global community?

9. Rejoicing and helping emerging nations or ugly Americanism?

10. Vibrant church liturgies or empty ritualistic fossils?

BEST OF AMERICA — MY HOME

LLB 2014

My heart is here at home; it’s America for me.

Friendly folks, youth and church, where I long to be.

God’s gifted us, protector of the world, as