What More Can I Say?

WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?

"I had found living so dear I wanted to do it full time." 

quote taken from THE BARN AT THE END OF THE WORLD 

by Mary Rose O’Reilly       

What more can I say,  indeed!  You are a temple of God; the Spirit of God dwells in you!  Pray with your whole being.  Use your hands and arms and feet and knees, mind and heart.  Your entire body can be a living prayer.  I know that everything in the world is not perfect.  I know about the pain, the violence, the wars, the scandals.  I know about death. Still, in the midst of our wounds we are invited to celebrate life.  In the midst of everything that is wrong with our world, let's celebrate what is right.

The Glory of God is a person fully alive, St. Irenaeus writes.  If he had that figured out in the 2nd century maybe we should give it our best.

         

Hands that Bless and Anoint

I love to be in our monastic chapel in the early morning hours when it is still dark. I watch the saints in our stained-glass windows as they slowly return to us with the first rays of  morning light.  This appearance and disappearance of the saints has intrigued me since my days as a novice.  At dusk they melt into the night.  When dawn arrives, slowly they reappear: this wonderful cloud of witnesses that surround us through the hours of our prayer day!

Unfortunately, their faces are somewhat saccharine and entirely too Caucasian for my taste.    Even so I have chosen to allow these saints to anoint me through the hours of the day.  It is their HANDS that bless me.  There are times I pray the windows much like I would journey through the stations of the cross.  I fix my gaze upon their hands and reflect upon the potential of my own hands.

I see hands raised in blessing, clasped in prayer, hands holding sacred books,  writing quills, olive branches and lilies, hands holding musical instruments, lamps and flasks of oil, hands held out in petition or raised in joy.  HERE IS MY CLOUD OF WITNESSES WHOSE HANDS HELD OUT IN BLESSING ANOINT ME THROUGH THE HOURS OF THE DAY!

However, I have another Cloud of Witnesses that bless me throughout the day.  These are my Sisters, my praying community, who meet me in chapel, in the dining room, in the recreation room, in the garden, in various places of work, Ora et Labora -- work and pray!  (and PLAY)  Our hands are sacramental; they are extensions of our hearts.

I have begun to watch the hands of my Sisters and sometimes I imagine their faces and hands in the stained-glass windows.  Here is my flesh and blood CLOUD OF WITNESSES whose fidelity to the monastic way of life inspire me, as together we listen with the ear of the heart.  We listen each day to the call that won't go away: the call to seek God in ordinary life.

You may wish to go back to my last week's post and bless your own hands as you continue this day of service to your family and to humankind. Remember: your hands are an extension of your heart. Everything you touch can blossom with love.

Hands

The word I have chosen for March is HANDS

My first post for March is taken from my book, Seven Sacred Pauses.  It is a blessing of your hands for the mid-morning pause that I call THE BLESSING HOUR.  We take so much for granted.  A good morning prayer before you go out to meet the day and be obedient to the invitations of the day could be a simple blessing.  Use the one below or create your own. 

INTRODUCTION:

Sit in your favorite chair, stand by a window or choose some soulful place for this blessing prayer.  Hold out your hands in gratitude for their many uses.  Reach out and touch the things that are near you.  Feel the texture of the things you touch.   Think of some of the tasks you have done and  will do this day.   How important are your hands for these tasks?  Now bring your hands  to a comfortable resting place on your lap or held up in a gesture of praise.

O Source of  Life,  you lifted me out of the earth,  From your hands I have come.  I place my hands in the welcoming  hands of your heart and pray for a sweet anointing in this mid-morning hour.  Anoint my hands with tender awareness.   Anoint my hands with compassionate touch.   Anoint my hands with sacred energy.  Give success to the work of my hands this day.  Help me remember  my potential to reach out and touch things to life.   Give me spirit hands.  Fill my hands with insightful consciousness.  Let me see with my hands the way those who are blind see.   May all that I touch be transformed into an instrument of grace.  O Holy One, anoint these hands and use them for healing all through the day. May it come to pass.
        -taken from Seven Sacred Pauses:  Living mindfully through the Hours of the Day  
         Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana        

                     

Keep it simple!

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! 

...but the storm of love is stronger

Happy Feast of St. Scholastica

Today, February 10, is the feast of St. Scholastica, twin sister of St. Benedict.  There is a lovely story about Benedict and Scholastica's last visit before her death.  This is told in the dialogues of St. Gregory the Great.  These twin saints had a custom of meeting once a year for holy conversation and speaking of the spiritual life.   This meeting took place in a house near Benedict's monastery. During one of their visits as evening drew near Scholastica begged Benedict to spend the entire night conversing of the things of God.  Benedict was horrified that she should suggest that he spend a night away from the monastery.  Upon his refusal Scholastica put her head on the desk and wept.  A severe thunder storm arose with torrential rains making it impossible for Benedict to  return to his monastery.  Thus they spent the night in holy conversation.  

We have picked up on the holy humor of this story and have used some of it in our antiphons for the feast.  In one of our antiphons we sing of Benedict's frustration when he discovers his plight:  "May almighty God forgive you sister, what have you done?"  And the responding antiphon is Scholastica's answer:  "See I have asked a favor of you, and you refused to hear me.  I asked my Lord and He has heard me." 
f you and you ed; I asked our Lord and He has heard."
Last night I was awakened in the midst of a thunderstorm and smiled at the memory of St. Scholastica's storm.  Whether this story is true matters little.  What matters is the deep love that St. Scholastica portrayed in wanting to spend time with God and with her brother.

In our Hymn for this feast we  sing:

Crash of tempest; roll of thunder                                                 Lightening flash from pole to pole,

But the storm of love is stronger

Brighter flashes in the soul.

May each of you experience a storm of love with bright flashes in the soul.  Who will you have holy conversation with this week?

Happy Feast!

To be a star

Do you ever wake up feeling lost, sort of dejected and forlorn--wondering how you landed in this world? That was my awakening experience about two weeks ago.  In my disgruntled state I poured a cup of coffee, opened the door to the great outdoors and gasped.  When I first beheld this scene I did not see the star.  I saw the tree holding the sunrise and it was like medicine for me.  I forgot my dejection.  I even sat there for a few minutes before getting my camera. Later when I put my photos on my computer, the star became visible and it was like a second dose of medicine.  I remembered a poem from my book, Seasons of Your Heart, and re-read the poem.  Now I offer a selection of  that poem to you because you, too, may have desolate days when being reminded that you have the potential to be a star for someone else in their desolation, just might be helpful for both of you.

I hope a star comes out for you today,

a new one that you've never seen before.

I hope it's bright and bold,

a prophetic star,

piercing your darkness

and helping you to see the things

you really need to see.

I hope it touches you

with fire

and runs along beside you

all  day long.

This star!

Oh, how I hope it comes

Leaping

Laughing

Bounding

Burning

Singing

Shining

in your life!

And when the day is through

I hope this star

keeps shining on in you

For without a doubt

you are

someone who's called 

to be
a star.

-Macrina Wiederkehr
Seasons of Your Heart: prayers and reflections 

Simplicity

My Word for February is SIMPLICITY

It speaks to me about the grace of slowing down long enough to discern "what's enough".  My altar above depicts my efforts to simplify.  It offers me sacred space that helps me remember to breathe.  It invites me to see beauty in stillness and non-action. I am a person who love rituals, icons, symbols, etc and so it often happens that my sacred space becomes too cluttered. When my personal altar becomes cluttered with too many treasures it becomes difficult to see the one true treasure.

My altar holds the single image of a praying woman.  You will notice she doesn't have a lot of prayer books around her.  No props or paraphernalia .  She is just BEING THERE.  Perhaps later a candle will arrive but it will be small.  Nothing flashy or overpowering!    My intention is to have just one treasure on my altar this month--something that speaks of the simplicity of BEING.  The treasure here is obvious.  It is presence.  It is prayer.  It is attentiveness.  It is silence and simplicity.

My question for this month:  Is there anything I can take out of my life so that I may be able to more truly see who I really am?