The summer season beckons. For many the Walt Whitman bridge is the gateway to summer. It is so appropriate that a bridge honors the legacy of Walt Whitman, and that this bridge features prominently in the Memorial Day weekend memories of so many.
Walt Whitman was born on 31 May 1819 in Brooklyn. Whitman, during the American Civil War, volunteered his services to assist those wounded by war. His poem “The Wound Dresser” recalls his loving service offered to the soldiers.
“Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals, the hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand, I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young, some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad. Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have crossed and rested, many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips.”
This poem, along with “Beat! Beat! Drums!”, “Dirge for Two Veterans”, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, and “O Captain, My Captain!” are but a few of Walt’s responses to the devastation of war and those affected by it. Walt is such an apt companion on our Memorial Day journeys. Stop by the Walt Whitman, Molly Pitcher, Clara Barton, or Joyce Kilmer service plazas on the New Jersey Turnpike for more inspiration.
Notice the movement evident in Walt’s recollections. He returns, resumes, threads his way through corridors and hospitals; the soldiers are restless; his hand soothes. Much of Whitman’s work involves movement. The destination may not be clear, certain, or definitive but there is a movement in search of an indescribable something.
The Holy Spirit is the mover and shaker drawing us into a deeper communion with The Holy Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit who comes as a great driving wind, and as tongues of fire. Yet, it is also the Holy Spirit who descends as gently and tenderly as a dove seeking to perch upon the areas of life whose movements are indescribable.
Stephen Langton, a thirteenth century Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, attempts to describe what is indescribable in his poem to the Holy Spirit: “Veni Sancte Spiritus” – “Come, Holy Spirit.” “Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour your dew. Wash the stains of guilt away. Melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray.” Langton originally planned this piece to be an accusation against an absent Spirit. Yet as he wrote he realized the absence was not on the Spirit’s part but on ours, who failed to accept the Holy Spirit’s invitation to enter that which is indescribable.
Fast forward to the nineteenth century and we find Walt Whitman, in his poem “A Noiseless Patient Spider” searching for the indescribable. “A noiseless patient spider… it launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.” You can almost see the images of the early Church with the Holy Spirit unreeling filaments of fire, energy, strength, confidence, and hope upon the followers of Jesus. Finally, Walt compares the work of the spider to the promptings of the Holy Spirit upon his own being. “And you O my soul where you stand, surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.”
Blessings to all as this Memorial Day weekend. May you acknowledge the goodness of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Trinity dwelling within you. Allow the Spirit’s thread to catch somewhere, moving you along the bridge the Holy Trinity forms within you, leading you to the wounds you are invited to dress.
Pentecost – Readings and Reflections – Cycle A / 24 May 2026
Acts 2:1-11 – What are the events that you anticipated with uncertainty? Did those events live up to your expectations? How were you surprised by them? Pleasantly surprised? Unpleasantly? / What aromas fill your house? Fill your soul? / Why is the Holy Spirit associated with images of energy? / What languages do you speak? Which would you like to speak?
Responsorial Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 3 – R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. – With what creatures of the earth would you like to be more familiar? / The Psalmists’ theme is “to be pleasing to the Lord”. What is your theme? / In what ways does the face of the earth need to be renewed? How can you help in that renewal? In what ways do you need to be renewed?
1st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 – What are your spiritual gifts? Your forms of service? “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” For what benefit has the manifestation of the Spirit been given to you?
John 20:19-23 – This Gospel reading is also the reading for the Octave of Easter. Why is it repeated here for Pentecost? Which gospel reading do you like to hear frequently? Why? / Is the peace of Christ within you? In what areas of your life is peace absent? / Why does Jesus breathe on the disciples? (See Genesis 2:7, and Psalm 104:29). / What sins have you forgiven? What sins have you retained? Are these the sins of others or your own?