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I open with a poem this week. I gave a retreat to a group of men this weekend and I am still in a prayer frame of heart.
- Let Us Pray –
Just say one prayer with me –
Allow all blaming to pass on the Spirit’s Wind.
Those who you think caused all the trouble, did not –
It’s the turning of the head away from Love’s Gaze that brought the grief.
Turn, look in the direction I am pointing to –
There ! the moon reflects God’s Face, brilliant and accessible to the eye.
If we look long enough, the eyes of our hearts will open –
Then, turning to each other, we will see each other in that Light.
Coyness is for the immature, my heart offers no shame –
So look, and you will see Jesus in this breast,
Along with Mary, the Magdalene, and all those Saints
Who along the way chose to reside here, without apology.
Our Lover, Creator of Orion and the Pleiades’,
Never places the burden of Love in anyone
Without support, and nurture – without joy and peace.
Try carrying this Grace awhile, then you will begin to know.
Jesus made mud to cure the blind man,
I have it here with me, I am free to offer it.
Let me put my hand on your center,
So heart's sight may be opened –
Then we will pray together, without words,
And we will know of the things of The One Who Is.
Bill Lagerstrom
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Sometimes memories of bleak days come back with a disarming sharpness. Even though the sun may be shinning these past days have a sadness to them that is tinged with a feeling of loneliness. I saw these old emotions in the following picture:
What has happened over time is that I have a much more secure sense of who I am, and what I am about in life. This sea change of view gives me a different way to see scenes like the one above. Emotions fade from sight easily now and images change to what may only be described as a more mystical feeling where God is presenting the scene through the eyes of the Spirit - details become less important as the eyes of the heart see very differently than the eyes of the intellect.
Heart sight can be disturbing at first but with time it can become the preferred way of envisioning what God is always offering to us. The best way to practice seeing with the heart is to close one's eyes and enter into meditation along with a prayer that moves us into becoming prayer as we live our daily experiences.
This musing is all about metaphor. I would like to know what your thoughts are about seeing without eyes, hearing without ears, and perhaps touching without hands.
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Here are two guided meditations from Tara Brach, the head teacher at the D.C. Insight Meditation Center. Well worth spending some time practicing meditation with as they are only around twenty minutes each. Grab a seat, and "sit." God it has been said only speaks to us in silence, so the "Practice" of sitting in meditation has "benefits without limit."
Finally, something to consider regarding the Face Of God -
Peace, Bill Lagerstrom
