Blog Turns Five

 

Ships that pass in the night and speak each other in passing;
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,

Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

 

Tales of a Wayside Inn

 ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poems are very interesting to read because they leave vivid visual images that linger in the mind long after the poem has been read.  There is a certain quiet noticing, like a pause in between sounds, a stillness in the midst of motion, a space within which to ponder...

 

The view of Manila Bay last night reminded me of the poem above, and of this one below:

   

 

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

 

A feeling of sadness and longing
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

 

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

 

The Day is Done

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

As this blog turns five years old today (yes!),  I too pause in between activity, take quiet notice of the different soul expressions that have flowed out from within my heart and on to postings in this blog the past five years. What a joy it has been to lay pieces of soul here, freely, simply, and with love!

 

No, the 'day is not yet done'. There is still much to sail through in life... many more ships to 'pass and speak each each other in passing'... much in life to still notice, in stillness and in quiet pauses in between activity.

 

"Thank you dearest Lord, for your Spirit flowing through the many pages of entries here. Everything that has been written originates from You and is quietly offered back to You.  One day, when my day is done for good and darkness finally falls for me, from the wings of the night, may your images continue to shed light and convey who You are to the many other 'ships that pass in the night' ".

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Soul within Soul

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The colors of the Advent candles
remind me of what I pray
we will truly come
to believe and experience
about
our soul within His,
each and every moment of our existence...

sculpture: "Grip of Grace" by Alex Tee


pink = our soul
purple = God's

God Within

God's creativity is so amazing. He designed things in such a way that we can experience His presence "in all things", but as if that was not enough and He wanted to lodge Himself so fully within us, He also reserved the deepest part of our very being as the place where He makes His home and where He constantly breathes His life and love.

I feel so blessed to have stumbled upon this article by George Aschenbrenner S.J. entitled, "A Hidden Self Grown Strong", located in the book "Handbook of Spirituality for Ministers" edited by Robert Wicks. It describes our God within us:

"This inner core of a person has a profundity and a simplicity that is literally beyond words. The core of the soul is not a place upon which to take a stand; nor is it a thing to be grasped. To speak of the core of a person in such terms is very misleading. Our deepest center stretches far beyond what can be conceived in clear and distinct ideas and what can be fully expressed in words. As we grow in our appreciation of this personal center, its presence dawns, alluringly shrouded in mist and mystery. Such mysteriousness does not imply cloudy ambiguity. Rather, within the shifting mists of this inner mysterious realm there can dawn a great quiet and clarity of vision. Allowing ourselves to be led further into this core of self facilitates a wonderful process of simplification. Life's complexities fuse into an undaunted simplicity. A noisy world hushes into a resounding quiet. And a polluted heart is stripped clear and clean. This core of the soul is marked by a simple calm and quiet beyond any cataclysmic storms and brutalizing temper tantrums. This deepest core of soul speaks of the infinite simplicity of God and of love beyond words that, even as you now read, is breathing life within you."

Further on in his article, Fr. Aschenbrenner S.J. continues to describe the core of our soul:

"Our most profound and personal experience of God, as mentioned earlier, is in the core of our soul. The core's profundity is not given to intensely exhilarating experiences. Because the waters of our core identity run deep beyond words, God's love is not experienced there like the excitement of cresting and breaking waves of emotion. Rather God's love resounds as a presence perduring and endearing. This profundity of God's perduring presence can produce an inner quiet - like the catching of one's breath - behind and beyond all exciting spontaneity and breathless activity.

At our deepest center we are not actually doing or feeling anything. This is the point where we are - where we are in God, and are continually coming to be in the breath of God's loving Spirit. This center of being, this presence does not completely elude conscious grasp. Moments of prayerful reflection, sometimes carefully attuned to our breathing, can reveal a deep inner calm and quiet, that does not have a deadening effect but rather renews and enlivens. This is holy ground. In the holiness of this quiet sanctuary, with an attractiveness beyond imagining, God's love is grasping, laying claim to and identifying each of us in Christ. It is the still point in the ever turning world of our own person and of the whole cosmos."

May each of us be given the grace to enter the inner core of our soul and discover that holy ground of calm and quiet, the seed bed of God's creative and enlivening Spirit.