First Things RSS Feed - Timothy Murphy https://www.firstthings.com/author/timothy-murphy en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:54:43 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/timothy-murphy 60 Prayer for the Farmers https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/05/prayer-for-the-farmers https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/05/prayer-for-the-farmers Tue, 01 May 2018 00:00:00 -0400 Tonight I add a fourth chapter to prayer.
I pray first for the ministries of priests
who serve me at our sacramental feasts
and showed a way back from my black despair.

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]]> Lama Sabachthani https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/04/lama-sabachthani https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/04/lama-sabachthani Sun, 01 Apr 2018 00:00:00 -0400 Laid in a humble bin
of barley, not feed corn,
tonight a Child is born
to save us all from sin.

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]]> Fire Up a Candle https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/12/fire-up-a-candle https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/12/fire-up-a-candle Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:00:00 -0500 Fire up a candle for the Advent wreath.
The birth is a week away.
Let the deer browse peacefully on their heath,
our rifles locked away.

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]]> Ode to King David https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/11/ode-to-king-david https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/11/ode-to-king-david Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:00:00 -0400 Goliath

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]]> January 25, 2017, an Ode https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/january-25-2017-an-ode https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/january-25-2017-an-ode Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0400 My Students
   Two hundred kids bussed to the March for Life.
         Worried husband and wife
wonder are they securely chaperoned?
         Their mental muscles toned
by Scripture, Confirmation, the Sacraments
         and King David’s laments
learned at each Friday Mass, oh cut them loose,
Irish and Scots children. Robert the Bruce,
          come storm forth from your grave,
so little time, so many teens to save.

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]]> Burns in Glory https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/burns-in-glory https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/burns-in-glory Tue, 01 Aug 2017 00:00:00 -0400 The Oxford Edition of the Works of Robert Burns, Volume I:
Commonplace Books, Tour Journals, and Miscellaneous Prose
 edited by nigel n. leask
 oxford, 512 pages, $200

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]]> Retreat https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/03/retreat https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/03/retreat Tue, 01 Mar 2016 00:00:00 -0500 My life is one perpetual retreat.
Wall off the world for books to be adored,
Testaments Old and New, Word of the Lord
whose great librarian is the Paraclete.

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]]> Open the Way https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/01/open-the-way https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/01/open-the-way Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Open the Way for God? Take to the road,
Calvary Hill. It is no easy path.
Give up your greed, your tendency to wrath,
go to confession, and lay down your load.

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]]> Sixty-Two https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/12/sixty-two https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/12/sixty-two Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:00:00 -0500 Not fit enough to wander the wild woods
or separate my wouldn’ts from my shoulds ,
what can I say?

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]]> Late Planting Il. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/11/late-planting-il https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/11/late-planting-il Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Two hundred miles I sojourned yesterday
    to see one tractor and its drill
        seeding the Fargo clay.
For me that’s always April’s greatest thrill
        which this year came in May. 

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