..a small miracle!

How wonderful is light! How awesome is sight! The truth of this rests gently in my heart on this vigil of my cataract surgery. Everyone says that this particular surgery is a piece of cake but I like to think of it as a small miracle. I sat at my prayer altar this evening and remembered some of my favorite sights.

What will it be like to see more clearly (without glasses)

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  the way the shadows and the light celebrate the moments


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  the personality of the individual leaves in the community of leaves on the trees


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  those beautiful freckles on so many faces


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  and the dimples, remembering how when I was a child I used to punch my cheeks in, hoping to create some for myself


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  the gathering of storm clouds


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  the illuminating streaks of lightning


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  sunlight streaming throught the branches


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  bright faces of spring flowers


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  and oh, the return of the daisies.

Continuing my prayer I imagine my doctor's hands held in the hands of the Holy One. Using the prayer of St. Gertrude, I pray for my left and right eye:

"I preceived a gentle light

proceeding from Thy divine eyes

and passing through mine,

spreading itself

in every secret part of me,

and seeming to fill

all my members

with a wonderful power

and strength."

--St. Gertrude of Helfta

Tomorrow the daisies will bloom.

And Thursday I will see them clearly!

The Darkness Holds the Light

Maybe the darkness holds the light,
rekindles it through the long dark night
Perhaps our joy is cradled by our sorrow,
held and protected till the dawn of tomorrow.

The picture above has become a metaphoric prayer for me. I waited a long time for the light on the morning this image was born. When it finally pushed its face through the blackness it took my breath away. It looked as though the darkness was holding the light. I wanted to call out, “Stop right there. Hold the moment!” Life is not like that, of course, and the light kept coming. Afterwards I felt a little guilty for needing to capture the moment. “Forgive me.” I said to the light and to the darkness, “forgive me for not trusting my memory.” I wanted it to last forever, yet this photo is so dim compared to the sacramental memory of the Earth Turn that brought me the light on that autumn morning. I forgave myself quickly and have been praying with this picture for several months. It speaks to me in deep ways about how the dark moments of my life have always seemed to protect and save the light for me. I can’t always see and experience the joy, hope, and trust, the courage, love and beauty, the faith, life and light hidden in the cloud of my unknowing. The brightness within is often invisible and yet when I practice deep seeing I know without a doubt that we are containers of light and, oh, we must shine on one another or die.

O Source of Light and Darkness,

Instill in each of us a deep knowing that we are containers of Light:

our sorrow holds our joy,

our despair holds our hope,

our fears hold our courage,

our anxieties hold our trust,

our indifference holds our love,

and our clutter holds our yearning for the Eternal

In spite of our sometimes disordered lives,

all the brightness within us

is kept safe for us--safe for that moment

when we joyfully claim it as

part of our inheritance.

We are containers of peace and joy,

hope and faith, forgiveness and love.

We are containers of the Divine.

We Are Containers of The Light.

The Night Watch

TAKE SEVEN SACRED PAUSES EVERY DAY

The poem (O BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS) found in my last post was written for my book, Seven Sacred Pauses, to help us celebrate the Night Watch (one of the hours in the monastic tradition). For a long time I have been aware of how many people fear the darkness or see it only as a symbol for sin and oppression. In this poem I am concentrating on the positive aspect of darkness. Darkness offers intimacy and nurturance. It is only in the dark one can see the stars. Each seed grows in the darkness of the earth. The baby grows in the darkness of the mother’s womb. There are times when we close our eyes searching for the insight that helps us see more clearly. For the CD that accompanies my Seven Sacred Pauses book go to Velma Frye’s web site: http://www.velmafrye.com/ You will find her lovely arrangement of O BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS on the CD.

Tonight, turn out the electric lights,

light a candle and let the sacred darkness enfold you.

The winter solstice has been celebrated since ancient times. As we prepare for the winter solstice, that time when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest from the sun, we prepare for sweet hibernation, the gift of winter’s darkness. We also celebrate the very slow return of the light. Let us embrace both the darkness and the light as gifts for the soul as we celebrate the shortest day and longest night.