How will you celebrate the Year of Faith?  As the Catholic Church readies to begin this special year declared by Pope Benedict XVI that begins Thursday, October 11, 2012, a Regnum Christi member who lives in North Carolina has put a pen to paper to share her poetry.

Stacy Peterson, a mother of 12, is using her talents to inspire others on their faith journey.  She has written The Gatekeeper Awaits in anticipation of the upcoming 12-month-period.  Stacy is a published poet -- you can read some of her work at the link www.catholiclane.com.  (To read one of her most current poems, Passionate Love, written in honor of a mother who lost her son, CJ, nine years ago, click here.  For her poem The Star click here, and for her poem First Kiss click here.)

“The poem The Gatekeeper Awaits is a call to faith!” she explained. “I wrote this one morning immediately following Mass.  I had been meditating on the crucifix, and just had this image of the point of my praying hands plunging into Christ´s chest wound.”

She said that the words from the Mass, "He entered willingly into His passion" were the primary inspiration for the poem.  “That phrase had really been speaking to me for awhile,” she said. 

Her poetry frequently comes from “the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,” she said.  “The first line comes to me, and then it flows really fast.” 

The motto for the new millennium Jubilee Year 2000 (declared by the late Pope John Paul II) -- "Open wide the doors to Christ" -- has also “resounded” with Stacy ever since she visited St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome that year.

Explaining more about the inspiration for her new poem, Stacy said her meditation on St. John of the Cross´ thoughts on the theological virtues were important.  The saint’s writings say “faith purifies the intellect,” “hope purifies the memory,” and “love purifies the will.”

Finally, Stacey said she was once told by a Legionary priest that Gethsemane means “oil press,” so she incorporated this information as well.

 “I´ve waited about three years to use that meditation, so I was excited!” she said.

Much of her poetry has been the fruit of years of meditation, she explained.  “Be present to what’s going on in your soul, and eventually it will come out in one way or another.”

She encourages those who feel called to write poetry to give it a try. “Be attentive to the stirrings of your soul, and act when you feel moved to write,” she said.  She recommends being well nourished in one’s faith. “Meditate on what inspires you – sacred writings and prayers.”

Poets must realize the main audience for any poem is the author himself or herself, she said.

“Your poetry belongs to you, regardless of what anyone thinks.  Primarily the audience is you.” 

Following is her poem:

The Gatekeeper Awaits!

Open the door of Faith

Plunge your praying hands through his wounded chest!

O Centurion’s sword! Thank you for a straightened path into his Sacred Heart! 

Now, pierce his heart with your laser Faith!

Beloved One, penetrate his chambers.

His heartbeat drowns reason’s fears, transfusing your mind with Truth. 

Faith illuminates the mind of God! Revelation, upon revelation!

Clarity through the window fogged by human wisdom.

Transformed by Truths, barriers become the Door of Faith. 

Within the mind of God, transcendence permeates mundane realities.

You live encompassed by time, but not enslaved!

Precious blood courses through fragile faith, mysteriously sparking synapses… 

He entered willingly into his passion,

Through the door of Faith! Eloi! Eloi! Lama sabachthani!”

“My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” 

The Word, carved into his father’s palm, yet

Secured by that hand of mutual love to his cross.

His faith became The Door! 

Now, open wide The door to Christ, which is Faith!

Hope turns the knob. A chink of light escapes….

Ah!!! Love rushes in…… 

Love swoons on its cross.

It enters willingly into temporal relationships

Knowing they hint at eternal unity, a security unrealized in time. 

Purified by Faith, your intellect embraces that which nature finds repugnant.

Sacrifice, delayed gratification, mortification, pouring yourself out, and out….

Saying you’re sorry, confessing, forgiving, listening, understanding, persevering,

Embracing your enemy. 

Faith! It is the Light upon your path.

Open the Book! Believe the inspired Word,

Walk by Faith, for his precious blood is the reliable cairn through the wilderness. 

His path led him across the Kidron Valley, into the Garden of Gethsemane: The Olive Press garden.

Enter your Gethsemane willingly.

The Press of your Faith will yield fragrant oil. 

Therefore, Rejoice in Hope!

The knob of hope awaits your hand. Turn it!

Open the Door of Faith! Enter eternal life Today! 

The Gatekeeper awaits the command of your Faith!