Food for the Soul | April 29th, 2020

04/29/2020

Dear Friends,

As I was recently walking in a forest near my house I saw this bare dead tree in front of me (see photo above). Its main branches had made a structure that conjured up in me the word ‘portal.’ What if I stepped through it, where would it lead, what would it do to me? Was it magic? Stepping through portals can be very transformational. How is our current COVID-19 situation transforming our society? Do I see a transformation in myself? I invite you to step through the portal and take a seat at the table of God’s abundance.

A PRAYER   –   A PRACTICE   –   A POEM

A PRAYER

God of surprises
Infuse me with your wild wonder
Sustain me in the daily practice
Of opening my heart to grace.
Expand my imagination to see
More widely than before.
Open my heart to experience
Compassion beyond my dreams,
Call me to begin again and again.

A PRACTICE

Growing in the Wilderness (From Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr)

If the desert is a place of renewal, transformation, and freedom, and if the heat and isolation served as a nurturing incubator for monastic movements, one wonders if a desert experience is necessary to reclaim this legacy? —(Barbara Holmes: Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practice of the Black Church) 

Life in the desert is not easy. It does not offer moderate temperatures to please the human desire for comfort nor abundant water to quench inevitable thirst. The caves that offer shelter likely don’t provide a soft place to lay tired bodies. And yet, the desert abbas and ammas sought out these conditions, believing they would find new and abundant life—even where life seemed impossible. We invite you to take a few breaths and to slowly and contemplatively read this passage from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart, in which he describes an encounter in another kind of mountain wilderness.

“It was above the timber line. The steady march of the forest had stopped as if some invisible barrier had been erected beyond which no trees dared move in a single file. Beyond was barrenness, sheer rocks, snow patches and strong untrammeled winds. Here and there were short tufts of evergreen bushes that had somehow managed to survive despite the severe pressures under which they had to live. They were not lush, they lacked the kind of grace of the vegetation below the timber line, but they were alive and hardy. Upon close investigation, however, it was found that these were not ordinary shrubs. The formation of the needles, etc., was identical with that of the trees further down; as a matter of fact, they looked like branches of the other trees. When one actually examined them, the astounding revelation was that they were branches. For, hugging the ground, following the shape of the terrain, were trees that could not grow upright, following the pattern of their kind. Instead, they were growing as vines grow along the ground, and what seemed to be patches of stunted shrubs were rows of branches of growing, developing trees. What must have been the torturous frustration and the stubborn battle that had finally resulted in this strange phenomenon! It is as if the tree had said, “I am destined to reach for the skies and embrace in my arms the wind, the rain, the snow and the sun, singing my song of joy to all the heavens. But this I cannot do. I have taken root beyond the timber line, and yet I do not want to die; I must not die. I shall make a careful survey of my situation and work out a method, a way of life, that will yield growth and development for me despite the contradictions under which I must eke out my days. In the end I may not look like the other trees, I may not be what all that is within me cries out to be. But I will not give up. I will use to the full every resource in me and about me to answer life with life. In so doing I shall affirm that this is the kind of universe that sustains, upon demand, the life that is in it.”

I wonder if I dare to act even as the tree acts. I wonder! I wonder! Do you?

A POEM

Watch for new revelations as the Veil
begins to fade away,
like clouds penetrated by rays
of brilliant sunshine.
Much will be revealed that has long
been hidden in mystery;
Prepare the way for Awakening!
Be not afraid to yield to the Unknown,
to become vulnerable and pliant:
the Beloved will lead you to new life.
Trust the Holy Process, enjoy the Mystery!
Like Pentecost of old, wondrous changes
are even now emerging,
calling each of us to attune to the
music, to join the Song.
Spend time in sacred space and listen.
Out of the Silence you may hear
your invitation:
Come to the Dance!
Lumen Christi…Holy Wisdom.

From Lumen Christi…Holy Wisdom. Journey to Awakening, NanC. Merrill 2002