Mary Oliver's Take on the Four Affiliate Pillars

Mary Oliver, American Poet

For the first Monday Morning Post after Christmas 2025, the thought came to ask the American poet, Mary Oliver, with the help of AI, to create a poem about the Maryknoll Affiliate four pillars. Here is what she might have written – posthumously of course.

At dawn, when the light
learns the names of things again,
we gather—not because we are finished,
but because we are beginning.

Community
is the circle the day draws around us:
neighbors passing bread,
stories set gently on the table,
listening that leaves room
for every voice to breathe.
It is the long patience of belonging,
the yes we practice
until it becomes a shelter.

Spirituality
is not far away.
It is the quiet river under the noise,
the pause before the next step,
the gratitude that opens like a leaf
when we remember we are held.
We learn to look, to bow,
to let wonder instruct us.

Action
is what the heart does
with what it has learned.
Hands move toward repair,
feet choose the harder path of mercy,
and love becomes practical—
a meal, a letter, a stand taken
in the bright weather of courage.

Global Vision
widens the horizon.
The world leans in:
mountains and cities,
languages like birdsong,
sorrows and hopes crossing oceans.
We practice seeing until no one is small,
until the earth is our neighbor
and care has no borders.

By evening, the light rests.
We are still learning.
But we know this much:
to walk together, to listen deeply,
to act with tenderness,
to keep our eyes open to the whole—
this is how the day is answered,
this is how love goes on.