January 22

Thich Nhat Hanh, John Donne, and Roe v. Wade

Author

David Barnhart
January 22, 2025

Inch Abbey, Downpatrick, Ireland, 2022

Today marks the death of Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk and friend of Thomas Merton, who was a pacifist, poet, and founder of Plum Village monastery in Bourdeaux, France. 

Today is the birthday of John Donne, whose “Holy Sonnets” combined passionate poetry with Christian mysticism. 

Today also marks the anniversary of Supreme Court Decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, in 1973, which legalized abortion in the United States for the next fifty years, until it was struck down on June 24, 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Before Roe, nearly all Protestant denominations supported women’s right to abortion, but segregationist politicians latched onto abortion as a way to drive evangelical voters to the polls.   

Reflection:

One of John Donne’s most famous poems is Holy Sonnet 10: 

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

John Donne, Holy Sonnet 10

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: 

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

Prayer: God, call us to notice the miracle all around us, to walk with an awareness of existence and to be in awe.