Lent Retreat, Week 5, day 2: Restore

Donna

Mar 20, 20243 min read

Sometimes I need

only to stand

wherever I am

to be blessed.

Mary Oliver

Happy Spring friends!

After winter's cold and seemingly unending gray skies, Spring arrives: a time of restoration and new life. The earth is restored. Our spirit is restored. And as the earth begins to blossom, we can also pay attention to what wants to blossom in us.

St. Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess in the 12th century, wrote about viriditas, the “greening power of God.” It refers to a moist fertility in nature, a greening life force we can witness in forests and gardens and farmland. It is what restores, sustains, and enlivens. Hildegard believed that viriditas was also something to be cultivated in both our body and soul. Anything that blocks this flow through us can contribute to physical illness and spiritual distress.

In a story of the desert fathers, one Abba tells a seeker: "Do not feed your heart what does not nourish it." In the last weeks of Lent, perhaps you might decide to offer your body and spirit the things that would nourish you. Listen also to what depletes you and try to say no to those things. Throughout the day, ask: Does this nourish me or deplete me?

See yourself as a growing plant or flower in God's garden. Remember, nourishment does not just come from food and water, but also quiet, rest, movement, gathering with loved ones, joyful activities, being in nature, etc. Only you can decide what is most nourishing for you. Perhaps you could make a list of the things which nourish you and the things that deplete you. We can also pray for guidance and help from God, the Gardener of our Soul, and our loving Shepherd.

Psalm 23: The Divine Shepherd

The Psalms Project: https://youtu.be/jUkB6d-KKxw?si=Q-n0M-TzoQnr-Arv

Spring Equinox Blessing

God of balance,

we ask your blessing at this threshold

when light and dark are equal.

Teach us to welcome both

into our lives, making room for joy and sorrow,

for sunlight shimmering and moonlight radiance.

As the light continues to grow,

and birds and insects begin their migrations,

journeying by impulse and intuition,

help us to listen to your call

to move in a holy direction.

Inspire us to celebrate the burgeoning

and blossoming of buds

all around us as well as within our hearts.

Holy Gardener, sustain us in nourishing

this season of growth,

cultivate trust in us that we are blooming

something the world needs.

Let the wondrous colors of creation

remind us of the grace in diversity.

Ignite our spirits and our feet

to enter into this sacred dance

of awakening with you.

(Christine Valters Paintner)

For reflection:

Where do you notice viriditas in the world around you?
Are you aware of something waiting to emerge and blossom in you? What would nourish (or hinder) this growth?
Is there a place in you that hesitates to join Spring's exuberance? Can you be tender with the hesitating place, making space for both the exuberance and the reluctance?
Perhaps you'd like to buy a packet of seeds and a little soil, and begin some plants indoors, increasing viriditas in the world around you, and as a symbol of what grows and blossoms in you.