Dear All of Us,
Life sure is full
of opposites
that aren't.
For example,
sometimes restriction
opens things up.
That was so especially true
a cultural notch or two back.
For instance, there was
a restrictive insistence on
QUIET
a semi-sacred silence,
a restriction that opened
to a freeing fullness.
Going to visit in the hospital
we were met by a pictured
white capped-clad,
starched stiff nurse,
and if needs be,
by one in person
insisting on
"QUIET"
That restriction opened up
a calmed gentle space for both
patient recovery and visitation.
The same was so when
I was a teen visiting our
public library in Montclair, NJ.
"QUIET"
was required and opened
space and place
for undistracted focus.
That restriction open for me
the sacred as I got lost
in the stacks reading
Thomas Merton.
In the novitiate and seminary,
it was
Silentium Magnum
from night prayer to after breakfast.
It invited expansive freeing into the
Silent Sacred
Many, well ok,
most of us today
live in agitated noise
outside and inside.
We are spun out,
noised in and out.
How about we restrict
some of that so we are
opened up, freed up,
calmed down for the
SACRED SILENT
It comes
highly recommended.
Let's take time here.
Let's paradoxically
"hear" about silence
and how it "speaks"
to the particulars of
our deepest self and
how inviting, opening to
THE SILENT SACRED
it is and offers.
What does
The Spirit Speak
to our
Soul Center
- "In silence God ceases
to be an object and
becomes an experience."
Thomas Merton
- "Silence isn't shutting up.
It's opening up."
John Frank
- "Silence is the language of God,
all else is poor translation."
Rumi
- " In the silence of LOVE
you will find the spark of LIFE."
Rumi
- "Be still and know that I am God."
Psalm 46:10
Our circumstances vary:
raising kids, paying the mortgage,
getting spun out in mid-life,
sorting sexuality,
being slowed down on our way
to the stop and start fresh of death,
struggling for social and
ecological justice.
We can be in them
and go beyond them
into the deep,
dear depths of the
SILENT SACRED
and deep in encounter
with
GOD GOOD
May we take time
and give preference
to place and way
so we can turn off
the surround sound
that numbs head and heart.
If it helps, let's consider,
let's personalize
and "practicalize"
the wisdom shared in the
Ponder Prayer
that follows.
Let's
"Hush Up"
so we can
"Listen Up"
in the
SILENT SACRED
Quietly beside you,
John Frank
******
PONDER PRAYER
Seeking the
SILENT SACRED,
we listen to Jesus:
"Here's what I want you to do:
find a quiet, secluded place
so you won't be tempted
to role-play before God.
Just be there as
simply and honestly
as you can manage.
The focus will shift
from you to God,
and you will begin
to sense his grace."
Matthew 6:6
The Message
In that place and way
Silence frees us Sacred.
We hear and see
God Good
at the center
of who we are.
We sense a solidarity
that goes beyond
concept or word,
a oneness with
The One of All
That Is
We are held
tenderly close,
merged.
It's like the
quiet union
after love making,
only indescribably deeper.
So centered, we notice
God Good
at the center of all else
and flowering forth:
the marvelous
intricacy and coloration
of a summer azalea
the pump of a seven year old
scoring a first ever homerun
the transparent communion
of Salvador Dali's
The Sacrament of the Last Supper
the mystical stillness
of an English meadow
the majesty and wonder
of images from the
James Webb Telescope
the rich mellow transport
of a robust red
Silence is stillness enough to see.
Other seers say the
Silent Sacred:
"Listen to God in the silence
of your heart and
you will know
His perfect plan for you."
Psalm 46:10
"The media transforms
the great silence of things
into its opposite.
Formerly constituting a secret,
the real now talks incessantly.
News reports, information,
statistics, and surveys
are everywhere."
Michel De Certeau
"There is in all visible things
an invisible fecundity,
a dimmed light,
a meek namelessness,
a hidden wholeness...
There is in all things
inexhaustible
sweetness and purity,
a silence that is
a fountain of action and joy.
It rises up in
wordless gentleness,
and flows out to me
from the unseen roots
of all created being."
Thomas Merton
"Keep silent,
because
the world of silence
is a vast fullness."
Rumi
******
A quiet deep welcome to
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
(click top left, frankly speaking)
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******
One more for good measure.
"Silence is an ocean.
Speech is a river.
When the ocean
is searching for you,
don't walk into the river."
Rumi
Swim away oceanically!
See you next week!
******
