ADIOS 2010

Dec. 31, 2010--Jan 1, 2011

I am never quite certain at just what moment the old year slides into the new year and most of us probably don't feel all that different as the bells begin to ring out the old, ring in the new. There are some who go into the new year a little more intoxicated perhaps. And so I pray, as I sit in my writing room at my west window beholding the short, though lovely, display of fireworks that has just flashed across my sky--yours too. I pray that you will be intoxicated with life this year, inebriated with the spirit of joy and open to transformation.

I also say good-bye to 2010. I carry into the new year the joyful and sorrowful moments of the old year. I say good-bye (meaning God-be-with-you) in an all embracing way, in the manner you say good-bye to something or someone you once loved and will forever carry in your heart in some mysterious, inexplicable way, Namomi Shihab Nye's poem ADIOS seems the perfect way to say GoodBye so here it is. Eat the words and be grateful.

ADIOS by Namomi Shihab Nye

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It is a good word, rolling off the tongue

no matter what language you were born with,

Use it, Learn where it begins,

the smallest alphabet of departure,

how long it takes to think of it,

then say it, then be heard.

Marry it. More than any golden ring,

it shines, it shines.

Wear it on every finger till your hands dance,

touching everything easily

letting everything, easily go.

Strap it to your back like wings.

Or a kite-tail. The stream of air behind a jet.

If you are known for anything,

let it be the way you rise out of sight

when your work is finished.

Think of things that linger: leaves

cartons and napkis, the damp smell of mold.

Think of things that disappear.

Think of what you love best,

what brings tears to your eyes.

Something that said "adios" to you

before you knew what it meant

or how long it was for.

Explain little, the word explains itself.

Later perhaps. Lessons following lessons,

like silence following sound.

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So there! Our work is finished for this year. We let it go. We wave good-by even to the blessings we have missed. They will come around again. Open your eyes. It is going to be a very good year.

Repeat after me!

It is going to be a luminous year!

ADIOS! 2010

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Hola 2011

Emmanuel, God-with-us

~~Last day to sing the O'Antiphons~~

December 23, 2010 O Emmanuel, Come

By now perhaps we are beginning to realize that we are among those people who are dwelling in partial darkness. We also need to remember that we are waiting for someone we already possess. The partial darkeness suggests a hiddeness. Sometimes what is hidden from us is our own goodness, our own light, our Inner Christ.

O Emmanuel, Beautiful Savior, Come into the partial darkness of our lives and reveal your face. You are Emmanuel: God-With-Us. Liberator of all who are in bondage. You are our hope. Come and save us. Make of us your own intimate face of "Joy for the World," O Emmanuel, Desire of the Nations, Come and set us free. O Come.

Go now and become God's personal JOY TO THE WORLD!

O Light Eternal, O Ruler of Nations

The joy of "O!" continues in our daily prayer

as we hear the mystical poet, Rumi, proclaim:

"Keep knocking and the joy inside

will eventually open a window

and look out to see who is there."

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December 21 (winter solstice) ~~

Today is our rising-sun day. Our eagness for the Dawn of God

to break into our lives grows stronger. And so we pray...

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O DAWNING LIGHT FROM THE EAST,

O Rising Sun bursting out of the darkness,

O Sacred Sun of Justice,

Come with your luminous face of Glory.

Shine on all who wait in darkness

for the radiance of your healing.

O You who are the splendor of Eternal Light,

enlighten us in our waiting.

O Come and shine on the embers of our hope.

O Come! O Come! O Come!

O Dear Desire of Every Nation! Our God is not a tribal God but a God whose heart includes all. In the eye of this Divine Lover we are one tribe. We are all in this Eternal Lover's tribe! Yes, All of us! Oh that we might live this truth...

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December 22, 2011~~ We pray to One who is all inclusive:

O Servant King of the Nations~~ O deep, dear desire of every longing heart, you are the Messiah, the Anointed One for whom we have waited with eagerness. You are the foundation of our lives. Come to all the nations. Lay your hands upon the earthen vessels of our lives. Unite us as One People. Break into our hearts and reveal to us our own love. This is the hidden love we never knew we possessed! This is the inclusive love that leaves no one out. ...and we never knew we possessed such love until you broke into our lives. O, joy of every longing heart!

O Servant King, O Come.

O Root of Jessie--O Key of David

As Christmas draws near we continue to invoke our God

to come and save us as we sing the hauntingly beautiful o'antiphons.

December 19, 2011 ~~ We honor our roots today. We are a part of our ancestors whether we like it or not. I tend to look at that truth in joy even though we can be fairly certain that not everything in our blood line is or was as we would have desired it to be. It's really ok! Into our lives with all its faithfulness and sinfulness God comes. Jessie is a metaphor for someone in our orginal history who was faithful.

O ROOT OF JESSIE~~Tree of Life, You are a sign for all peoples. Let the mighty ones fall silent before you. You have flowered forth from the royal line of King David. You are our servant king. Let the nations bow before you. Come, take root in us. Help us to blossom forth from your Servant-Heart. Deliver us quickly, O Come!

December 20, 2011~~Just as it was from David's line that the Christ was to be born; it is from our line that "the-Christ-life" is to continue. Where is the key that will reach the hearts of the nations? Christ is that key! And we, also, must become the key that unlocks closed doors and closed hearts.

O Key of David, Shepherd King and Holder of life, you unlocked the door to God's heart. Come, free all that is captive within us. Pry open our self-made prisons. Break the chains of those who use their power to keep others imprisoned. Lead all captives into freedom. Set free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. O Come!

Break the chains

of those who use their power

to keep others imprisoned!

O Wisdom, Come

OK! OK!

Someone just informed me

that I've been dancing a little too fast

and a bit too long

so I will try to come back.

Advent seems like a good time to return.

The O Antiphons begin today~~for Christians, these ancient voices speak of our longing for the coming of the One who will save us from all those lost and exiled parts of ourselves. Indeed, the one who is coming is the One we call our Savior. And so we clear a space inside our hearts for the names of God to live.

We begin by focusing on the word, O! In this case it is more than a letter in the alphabet. It is the wonder, surprise, joy, exuberance that we experience when something "goes wide in our hearts" and causes us to exclaim, "O!" It is the miracle of the Christ we are waiting for and sometimes we find that Christ in unexpected places.

December 17, 2011: Today we cry out,

O Wisdom, you came forth from the mouth of the Most High reaching to the ends of the earth. O Sapientia, O Holy Word of God, you rule all of creation with your firm, yet tender care, Come, Open up the highway of our hearts to receive your salvation. O Come!

December 18: O Lord and Loaf-Giver for the House of Israel (and now for our own households) You appeared to Moses in a burning bush. You gave him the Holy Law on Mt. Sinai. Teach us to look at the law as little lights along the way. You pass out loaves and rekindle weary hearts. O Come with your all-embracing arms to set us free. O Come!

~~Prayers somewhat adapted by Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

See You Shortly

I'll be back real soon!

I'm dancing just as fast as I can!

Feast of Mechtild of Magdeburg

Let me begin by apologizing for those animated butterflies leaping around at the beginning of my last post. I didn't know they were animated or they would probably not have been chosen to adorn my site. I am not ordinarily into things jumping around on my screen. It reminds me too much of my own somewhat disordered life. I run too much, move too much. I am longing for quiet places and caves these days.

On the other hand we sang a song to honor Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207-1294) this morning at mass and I was so moved by the images of her passion, love and exuberance. She was a medieval mystic and in her book, The Flowing Light of Divinity she describes her visions of God. Ofcourse the leaping comes out of the stillness. That exuberance for God flows out of time spent BEING with God. The words we sang this morning were written by Marietta Crahan, OSB and in singing them I decided that perhaps the dancing butterflies from my last post were not so harmful after all.

I cannot dance unless you lead,

With eager heart, for you I long.

With holy abandon I would leap,

But Lord you must intone the song.

Then I shall leap into your love,

from love to knowledge, if you will,

From knowledge into pure delight

Then, Lord, to circle higher still.

To be your partner in this dance,

Is this too much, Lord, to be true

for one who has no love in her

Unless she first is moved by you?

A fish in water does not drown,

No bird will plummet from the air.

In God my nature is at home,

My dance of praise is everywhere.

O Jesus, joy of loving hearts,

Be now our song for endless days.

We honor Mechtild's mystic dream,

And long to share her dance of praise.

I am grateful for these words that made my heart leap this morning at dawn. From all this leaping the stillness will arrive. I honor everything in you, dear reader, that is exuberant and passionate and wise, even if it is still sleeping.