Simple Wisdom

Fr. Bob’s "prayerpoems" are free verses about topics such as gospel stories, Catholic concepts, Jesus, Mary, and life realities like love, fear and grief. Several of the poems are about St. Francis of Assisi, whom Fr. Bob calls Il Poverello, ‘the poor one’.

If you seek wisdom, a glance at the Internet soon reveals that everyone (and his dog) has advice for you. Catchy phrases and AI summaries from dubious sources fail to deliver meaningful insight, so who can you trust? Perhaps someone with more than ninety-five years of life experience, someone steeped in the traditions of St. Francis of Assisi, someone accustomed to prayerful contemplation. This person is Fr. Robert Mitchell O.F.M., a Franciscan currently living at Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre. His “prayerpoems” are a great way to begin, or to further, ones’s pursuit of holiness.

​In 2020, on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, Fr. Bob published “Come and See”(2023). His sixth book “Fire of Love”(2025) has just been released and is available at the Mount St. Francis Retreat Bookstore. Both these slender soft-covers are about 60 pages long and most poems are just a single page in length. Their brevity belies their gravity. These aren’t casual rhymes which can be quickly parsed. Each is a gem, or a morsel, to be examined and savoured. Perhaps read one per day when there’s an opportunity for quiet time.

Fr. Bob Mitchell, OFM. Photography: Adam Thom

​Free verse is poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter, but it is lyrical, nonetheless. Fr. Bob’s poems elicit an emotional response. They effectively transmit his thoughts and feelings but also spur the reader to go deeper still and uncover one's own feelings. For example:

The freedom of God is absolute
Nothing can constrain it.
When God freely loves,
It is because he wants to love.”

What one takes from these poems might change each time they are read. It depends on the reader’s feelings or situation in life or even one's nearness to God, all of which is constantly changing. That’s why “Come and See” and “Fire of Love” are perennial resources for prayer time.
 
Fr. Bob’s most recent book includes bonus reflections after each poem to jumpstart the reader’s pondering. It also has a section devoted to the Our Father prayer. Each page in that section dwells on one phrase of the prayer and expands it into a whole new understanding of the words. Fr. Bob suggests that these also are best experienced incrementally, one per day, (or once per hour for those who pray all day long).
 
One might say that Fr. Bob’s life work is to pray. In fact, in one of his very first poems, he says,
​“Listening is my life
From morn to night”

​Most of us cannot claim the same, but we can agree with another of his sentiments,
“Simple living must begin
from the inside out,      
From soul to body.”

With Fr. Bob’s help, may our quest for simple wisdom be renewed this year.

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Written by Alice Matisz for Faithfully. Photo courtesy of Adam Thom.