Photo: Kathryn Holt “A word found me,” a friend told me after Mass yesterday. “Reveal.”
She had been looking for her word for the year, prompted by a spiritual mentor, and it shimmered before her right out of the Scripture reading on New Year’s Eve.
“You might want to try it,” she suggested. I might. I would. It sounds so…well…contemplative. I thought I would go home and be still and receive a word.
I did return home, but ran a couple of errands on the way. And then I straightened up the house and prepared some food for dinner (my sister and brother-in-law were coming). I sat quiet for a few moments, and then decided to finish the, I am embarrassed to say, Christmas cards I had been working on little at a time for a couple of weeks.
“It’s a good thing there are 12 days of Christmas,” I wrote on each one, ” That gives me time to send out the cards!”
True. Christmas season isn’t over yet, and I did enjoy taking time with each card, writing personal notes and slipping a copy of my December column into the envelopes before sealing them.
Dinner was wonderful. Michael and I savored pork and sauerkraut. Elizabeth enjoyed the black bean lasagna she brought along. The best part of the evening was the long rambling conversations that included children, grandchildren, my book in process, homographs and triple homonyms, and how to earn badges on “Drawsomething.”
A good beginning to 2013, but no word appeared, shimmering before me.
This morning, the Psalms, reflections, and Mass readings in the January issue of “Give Us This Day” spoke to me, not with a single word, but with an image: Resting in God. Living There.
The January issue began with a reflection by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI about “Blessed Consciousness.” He shared a story of a Buddha sitting under a tree, called a “pig” by a passing soldier.The Buddha responded by telling the soldier he looked like God. Puzzled, the soldier asked why the Buddha would say such a thing. The Buddha explained that what we perceive as outside of us is really a reflection of what is within. The Buddha sat and thought about God….so when he looked outside himself, he saw God. He left the soldier wondering what was filling his own thoughts.
On the other hand, our thoughts are also colored by how the world sees us: Are we told we are beautiful, beloved, treasured? Are we treated with respect or disdain? With love or contempt? What wounds do we carry within that make resting with the Holy One within difficult? That make peace hard to find?
One of today’s Psalms say our hearts cry out: “Seek his face.”
Where do we see the face of the Holy One? Can we see it in ourselves? Can we rest knowing we are the Beloved of Love Herself? If we can, doesn’t that change how we see the world?
The Letter of Saint John admonishes us to “remain in him…”
To rest in the Holy Mystery. To see through the eyes of one who is Loved. To know the assurance and peace that comes with the gift of Embracng Presence given every moment. Every day.
I may not receive a word, but I have an image: being the beloved, resting in the ample lap and arms of the most Holy Mother God, whether I am working at home, relishing quiet prayer time, or selling goods to Macy’s customers.
Living out of such an image is a challenge. The world doesn’t always share Her glorious opinion of me. ( A bit like the grandparents I saw over the holiday looking at their almost year old grandchildren with joy, love, and pride.) Neither do I. But I have an image. And I will try.
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