SIMPLICITY
As I look tenderly back on the month
of February, the word I chose to befriend and companion me remains with me and
hopefully will continue to teach me in the month of March. I would like to always be open to the
possibility of being taught. SIMPLICITY! In
praying with the concept of simplicity I am reminded of how clutter depresses
me. Even so, it is easy for me to
surround myself with too much: too much
stuff, too many words, too many opinions, too many books, and on and on and on, I love space. One of the most memorable dreams I have ever
had was that of being invited into a room where I thought I would find
everything I longed for, only to discover that it was a totally empty
room. I knelt down in the middle of the
room and wept for joy. It was as though
I had come home. Perhaps that dream was
calling me to simplicity.
A favorite memory of February is the
one red rose I received on Valentine Day. I spent part of my personal
prayer-time simply gazing at the ONE rose. I would rather have just one flower than a whole bouquet. One
you can learn to love and cherish, one stands out, one seems such a good
companion and is so easy to BEHOLD. How could I have even found my one ROSE if
it had been mixed in with a dozen?
Tomorrow we begin another month and I will choose a new word. I'll share it with you when I'm ready.
May this new month help you to believe the truth about yourself no matter how beautiful it is!
Macrina, your rose musings reminded me of this:
ReplyDeleteFrom "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de St. Exupery:
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you . . ."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . ."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
Source: http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/framechapter21.html
Thank you for your reflection on Simplicity... I'm a Daughter of Charity, and simplicity is one of our three identifying virtues - all the way back from Vincent de Paul.He said "...the world is awash in duplicity. Today we hardly see anyone who says what he thinks..." and that was in 1659! It's supposed to color our way of being and our style of serving. I have been reflecting about how this applies to me during this Lenten time.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and best wishes from Anne