The Lost Parables of Jesus by Carl Winderl

 

Carl Windrel has established himself as America’s preeminent Marian poet.  His latest work, The Lost Parables of Jesus, is a rich collection of new and insightful poems, all of which are narrated by Mary.   As one accompanies Jesus on his final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, the reader is provided with both a telescope (to view beyond familiar stories) and a microscope (to view many of the smallest details).  Both perspectives, filtered through the lens of Mary’s mind and heart, afford a rich poetic and spiritual experience.  Grab a cup of coffee or tea, find a comfortable chair, and take your time to read and “listen” to these poems.

–John C. Bowling, President of Olivet Nazarene University, author of Graceful Leadership, ReVision, Making the Climb, Above All Else, A Way with Words, and Lake Cora Haiku. 

 

With The Lost Parables of Jesus Carl Winderl furthers the quest for understanding he undertook in his previous collection, The Gospel According to . . . Mary. These exquisitely crafted poems present a series of “parables” that expand on those in Biblical scripture by casting outward in their substance and form. For example, there is the prodigal daughter, an inclusionary retelling of the “wanton” child story, which returns us to the timeless declaration of unconditional love: “for this my daughter/ was dead, and is/ alive again;/ she was lost, and  is found;/ she once was a slave/ and is now set free.”

 

Winderl’s vision is iconoclastic—not a total rending of old cloth but a radicalism that faith and belief can bear. With their hard-won insights and inspired wordplay, these poems don’t shy back from the broken world (which one imagines their author has seen much of in recent years with his mission work in war zones). The world is present here in all of its (at times) grim “is-ness” but the pith of the two-thousand-year-old message endures, and this book, even in its dark reimaginings, is still devoted to making a joyful noise.

–David Daniel, author of Beach Town, a collection of stories. David Daniel is a prize-winning author and contributing editor of the “Laurel Review.”  His newest book is “Beach Town,” a collection of short stories.

 

Carl Winderl continues his imaginative exploration of the Mother of Jesus poetic ruminations on her Son’s Life, ministry, and redemptive death. In this his fifth book of Marian poetry, Winderl has Mary recalling several of Jesus’s “lost parables” spoken to followers, assorted hangers-on, and detractors during His final pilgrimage from Galilee, through Samaria and Judea, to Jerusalem. Winderl’s poetic vision features a divine storyteller on that fateful journey who frequently pauses and gazes at His often-uncomprehending listeners. But the voice is Mary’s, who beholds her Son and ponders His words. This is a rich poetic pilgrimage that prompts the reader to likewise ponder, gaze, behold, and ponder.

–Donald A. Yerxa, author, co-author, and past editor of two journals:  “Historically Speaking” and “Fides et Historia.”

 

In the finest tradition of St. Benedict’s “Lectio Divina,” Carl Winderl powerfully enters into Mary’s own reflections on the Life and message of her beloved Son. “The Lost Parables of Jesus” is a poignant, touching, searing encounter with the Crucified Christ, with Love Incarnate. It was Jesus, after all, Who promised His disciples that He would send His Spirit to guide them into “all truth,” and the deepest treasures of Scripture are often illuminated by the sort of “Lectio Divina” prayerful imaginative, reading of Scripture which St. Benedict, and his faithful servant, Carl Winderl, faithfully practice.

–Dr. Kenr R. Hill, Senior Fellow and co-founder of the Religious Freedom Institute, Russian Historian, author of “The Soviet Union on the Brink”; former president of Eastern Nazarene College; Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development; and Senior Vice-President of World Vision. Hill came into full communion with the Catholic Church in 2013.

 

In “The Lost Parables of Jesus,” Carl Winderl offers an imaginative expansion of Jesus’ teaching by storytelling during His last days, an expansion that includes the sharp perspective of His loving Mother.

–James Phelan, Distinguished University Professor of English at the Ohio State University.

 

Don’t just read this book. Absorb it. Let it seep into your heart like a healing oil. Notice the insights, the images, the what-ifs, the wordplay, the joy of Mary’s account, as translated by Carl Winderl. See the Life of Jesus in a new way. Discover the parables that surround you. And magnify the Lord. Thank you, Carl, for this balm.

–Dean Nelson is the founder and host of the annual Writer’s Symposium By The Sea, and the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University. His next book, coming out in 2025 from Rowman & Littlefield, is “Talking to Writers.” His book “God Hides in Plain Sight” was published by Brazos Press in 2009.

 

One of my favorite poets has done more of the work that we have come to expect — writing lines that dig deeply into the history and story and power of the Holy Writ to shape our faith.

–Robert Benson, author of more than twenty books on the spiritual life & named as a Living Spiritual Master by “Spirituality & Practice. “

 

Through Carl Winderl’s The Lost Parables of Jesus, readers can delight in the mind-play necessary to understand the message of the Gospels in the way Jesus himself conveyed it—through parables.  Though their tropes are drawn from biblical tradition (oil lamps, fruit of a vine, a prodigal daughter, mending nets, the poor man and the rich man, words vs. deeds), Winderl’s parables are new, fresh stories that convey the spirit of Jesus’s wisdom and love while adeptly engaging readers in the act of interpretation through masterful word-play and line breaks: Jesus’s three foes are “duplicitous” even “triplicitous.” Those who seem incurable of greed have “acute affluenza.” On both the unity among believers and the dual meaning of faith as both “remembering” Jesus and re-membering the Church with His followers: “all / members one; re- / members he . . . ,” and as Mary reminds us, all of her Son’s stories are told with “a smile /always.”

–Mary Ann B. Miller, founding editor, Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry; and professor of English, Caldwell University

 

Winderl strikes again. With “The Lost Parables of Jesus,” Voice is given to the quiet observers of the New Testament. The familiar is taken and examined from a different perspective, allowing the readers to step out of their comfort zones and expand their world view. The lyrical flow of the pieces takes the readers on a journey. Weaving words into visions, Winderl sweeps his readers along the path taken by Jesus and His disciples. Mary’s insight grants passion and Life into the Gospels in an enriching manner that will allow the readers to step into each stop along the way.

–Zachary Winderl, author of the “Atom & Go” sci-fi western trilogy: “Genesis,” “Trinity,” and the forthcoming “Wastelands.” At “The Literary Busker” he can be followed for his occasional ‘Writings and Musings’ about literature and life. Also, he’s the son of Carl Winderl.