Lent, Week 5, 3/25/21: Revealing Mystery

You are embraced by the arms

of the mystery

of God.

~Hildegard of Bingen

Recalling that Hildegard of Bingen names herself a "feather on the breath of God," how gentle this embrace of God must be! We are held tenderly as we rest in the love of God -- a love so beyond what our minds can conceive. This embrace can quiet and still our agitated bodies and minds, as Gunilla Norris writes in her book "Inviting Silence:"

"In silence we discover ourselves, our actual presence to the life in us and around us. When we are present, deeply attentive, we cannot be busy controlling. Instead we become beholders -- giving ourselves up to the mystery of things."

As we come to the end of our retreat, it might be quite wonderful to identify ourselves as "beholders." The word "behold" can be broken down into two separate words: BE and HOLD - which invite us to be present and hold "the life in us and around us." This is different from merely "looking at" -- but is a deeper way of perceiving and responding.

Soon we will move into Holy Week and, as we journey through each sacred day, there will be opportunities for us to behold the Paschal Mystery of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection. May we be open to whatever arises as we "are embraced by the arms of the mystery of God."

Behold I Make All Things New (Alana Levandoski): https://youtu.be/nqiBc9uPkG0

lyrics

1. Behold, I make all things new. Behold, I make all things new. Behold, I make all things new. Let there be light, let there be light. 2. God unseen is taking form. God unseen is taking form. God unseen is taking form. Let there be light, let there be light. 3. First and last is surging forth. First and last is surging forth. The first and last is surging forth. Becoming light, becoming light. 4. Behold, I make all things new. Behold, I make all things new. Behold, I make all things new. Let there be light, let there be light.

Poet Denise Levertov shares how Mystery can so quietly appear, right in the midst of our many "diversions"~

Primary Wonder

Days pass when I forget the mystery.

Problems insoluble and problems offering

their own ignored solutions,

jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber

along with a host of diversions, my courtiers, wearing

their colored clothes; cap and bells.

And then

Once more the quiet mystery

is present to me, the throng’s clamor

recedes: the mystery

that there is anything, anything at all,

let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,

rather than void: and that, O Lord,

Creator, Hallowed One, You still,

hour by hour sustain it.

~Denise Levertov

Dear friends~ May you be embraced in God's peace as you journey through Holy Week and beyond. With love~ Donna and Linda

https://youtu.be/u0XVTmhZFw8 (Deep Peace, Elaine Hagenberg)

Silence is the best response to mystery. ~Kathleen Norris (photo by Thomas Minutolo)

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Creative Exploration: Earth Altars

For our creative, playful (and prayerful) practice, I wanted to share the following with you from Benedictine Brother David Stendl-Rast's website: gratefulness.org.

Whether or not you feel led to create one of these earth altars, the video below is fascinating - it is brief and I encourage you to watch it. What follows the video is one person's experience after watching the video with suggestions for creating a morning altar of your own.

This is a brief youtube video "Morning Altars" by Day Shildkret:

https://youtu.be/6uo-_EtoeGw)

(on the left is one of Day Shildkret's "morning altars")

(excerpted from) Earth Altars: A Practice for Grateful Living by Laura Loescher

(from https://gratefulness.org/resource/earth-altars-a-practice-for-grateful-living/)

"It was a meditative experience placing the first acorn, and the next, and letting the patterns emerge. My nervous system settled. My heart opened. I felt so grateful for the simple act of co-creating art with the natural world."

Early in 2020, feeling burned out from decades of social change work and grieving multiple crises in our environment and society, I stepped away from an organization I’d been directing and began what I called a six-month healing sabbatical. My goal was to regain a sense of resilience and wellbeing... I sought to deepen my sense of presence and to practice living gratefully.

The first month of my sabbatical was busy — visiting aging parents, catching up with friends, launching into all the big projects around the house, looking at workshops to sign up for, and beginning to make travel plans for the spring and summer. I was not slowing down. I was not tending to my body and heart. I was not feeling more resilient. I was simply shifting the pressures of professional work to the pressures of a long list of other tasks and goals. I remember thinking “I wish the world would slow down so I can get some rest.”

A short time later, Covid-19 arrived on the scene and all the travel, workshops, and social plans vanished overnight. While many people around the world were suffering painful disruptions and difficulties, others were discovering new hobbies and learning to be with themselves in new ways.

Never before had I listened so deeply to the wisdom of the natural world. I felt incredibly nourished by the beauty and diversity blooming all around me.

I began spending a lot more time outdoors, in the solace of nature. Delighting in each new type of wildflower poking through the moist spring soil, I started learning the names of the trees, grasses, and flowers growing in my neighborhood. Never before had I listened so deeply to the wisdom of the natural world. I felt incredibly nourished by the beauty and diversity blooming all around me. I made little bouquets that opened my heart.

One day in early May, a friend sent me a link to morningaltars.com. Seeing Day Shildkret’s website sharing his nature art took my breath away. Something lit up inside of me and sparked my curiosity — what kinds of mandalas and earth altars might I create myself with mother nature’s bounty?

I assembled my palette — some acorns and lichen, along with a few wild iris flowers — and sat down to create. It was a meditative experience placing the first acorn, and the next, and letting the patterns emerge. My nervous system settled. My heart opened. I felt so grateful for the simple act of co-creating art with the natural world. I snapped a picture and then walked away — such a good practice for someone like me who sometimes has a hard time letting

go of things...

Photo: Laura Loescher/Earthaltars.com

What started as a “hobby” for my own healing and resiliency turned into something that could soothe and inspire others. It has connected me so much more deeply with the natural world and with my sense of place. I am so in love with this planet, more than ever before, as I get to know the names of what’s growing all around me. I walk through the world seeing color and shape and possibility everywhere.

If you’d like to explore creating your own earth altar or nature mandala, here are a few suggestions:

1.Wander and gather: Whether in a park, your own yard, or around your neighborhood, take your time to wander and look around you with new eyes. Take in the colors, textures, and patterns all around. Look up into branches and look down onto the ground. Pick up, gather, and clip things that speak to you. Gather them in a basket or bag.

2.Choose your ‘canvas’: Find a patch of dirt, or a stump, or any other background you wish to use for your altar. You can even work indoors if you prefer – using some soil you bring in from outside, or sand, or even a beautiful piece of fabric as your canvas. Even a plate or platter can work beautifully.

3.Settle and begin: I often begin by placing something in the center and then working outward from there. You can also start with framing the outer edges of your altar and working inward. See what patterns emerge. You can create a mandala by placing items in concentric rings from the center to the outer edges. You can play with diamonds, squares, circles, hexagrams, stars, or any other shapes you wish. You can go for symmetry or not.

4.Complete: As you continue to place items, building your earth altar, pay attention to when it feels done. Take a break. Sit with it. Ask whether it wants anything else. Sometimes I don’t notice when enough is enough, and end up taking some things away until it feels “just right.” Enough, but not too much.

5.Take a picture: If you wish, take a photo. While the art is impermanent, the image you snap can be enjoyed in the future or shared with others. I would love to see your creations!