Tag: nature
The breeze
Brings blessing
.
From hills
And fields and sky
.
As if
The inspiration
.
Were the true
Vocation of the soul
.
Seeking wisdom
Unity.
Inspired by “The Prelude”, Wordsworth, Book 1, Lines 1-6
“OH there is blessing in this gentle breeze,
A visitant that while it fans my cheek
Doth seem half-conscious of the joy it brings
From the green fields, and from yon azure sky.
Whate’er its mission, the soft breeze can come
To none more grateful than to me; escaped
From the vast city, where I long had pined
A discontented sojourner: now free, Free as a bird…”
.
Sky speaks to me
wind whispers her breezes
.
Clouds move inside my mind
and all this seems good:
.
I have seen the invisible
qualities of God
.
And I
have understood.
.
Thrush hurls her song
in curls and spirals and dead straight lines
.
The trees stand as still as time
The hills look down benignly
.
The wind converses enigmatically
The river merely suggests itself so quietly
.
Even the buttercups
Nod their heads with glee –
.
I feel I am among
such blessed company.
There is
The animal nature
.
Mysterious
And wonderful
.
In itself
Yet deeper
.
There is
Soul
.
Rational
Sensitive
.
Emotional
Spiritual
.
And for this
Your will
.
Must exercise
All thoughtful control.
.
Inspired by “Ascent of Mount Carmel” by St. John of the Cross
.
This sequence was inspired by St. Bonaventure’s work, ‘Journey of the Mind to God’.
.
I came upon his words
and set my mind to understanding
.
how the world could teach me
the mystery of God…
I had heard of nature
as the book of God
.
But never had the notion
rooted deep in my mind
.
Now I was confronted
by the words of a saint
.
For whom this was a grace
to be received
.
A journey to God
through the vestiges
.
Of his glory
in the living universe…
So let us begin
with the beginning
.
The source of all
from whom streams all
.
Energy
matter
.
Being
all of creation
The Father
of lights
.
From whom is every good
and perfect gift
.
We pray to the Father
the invisible one
.
to enlighten our mind
in the ways of peace
.
which surpass
all humankind
.
We pray
to the God
.
of beginnings
and the Father of all
.
That from eternity
somehow our understanding
.
even if slowly
perhaps imperceptibly
.
As our eyes adjust
gradually
.
to the dawning light
will grow
We do not know
who else may be praying
.
for us at this time
perhaps many people
.
perhaps no-one on earth
but heaven may be inclining
.
even now
and whispering in the ear
.
Remember Francis
who greeted in peace
.
Announced peace before all
prayed in ecstasy for peace
.
Following the man of peace
we worship
.
Whose honour was
nailed to a post
.
in spite of all the love
and the healing he gave
.
For Francis, grace came
in a revelation
.
of meaning
of vision
.
For me it is gleaned
from these words
.
in another tongue
in the soaring of contemplation
.
to be still
silent
.
attentive
pondering over and over
.
to consider and take to heart
a truth for today
.
To escape
the merely active life
.
And dwell
in imagination
.
Allowing God
to brush the spirit
.
with the Spirit
of Consolation
.
His call is to pass beyond
to peace
.
Through the most ardent love
of the crucified
.
Like Paul
who was raised
.
to the highest heaven
yet nailed to the cross
.
the heart of Christ
beating within
.
Francis bore the signs
of the passion
.
On his body
in his soul
.
For us to follow
devote ourselves
.
To the suffering saviour
so spurned today
.
In prayer
I throw my heart
.
at his feet
and wonder why
.
it must be this way
Heaven is silent
.
yet images of crucifixion
linger in the mind
.
I realise the hidden faith
of love giving himself
.
again and again
stretching out
.
offering an open heart
which is lashed by an evil world
.
No other way
has this man at the centre
.
The crossroads
the X that marks
.
the new beginning
the intersection
.
of heaven
and humanity
.
Incarnation
in a tortured death
.
How strange
yet how universal
.
There are stages of illumination
and they say
.
We must very often return
to our beginning
.
as we grow our wings
like the seraph Francis saw
.
who pierced his soul so tenderly
there are stages of progression
.
as we climb heavenwards in heart
from creation to Creator
.
from nature to nothing
we can imagine
.
And we enter by this door
to find pasture
.
and the tree of life
it is by prayer
.
that our desire is kindled
prayer and the mind
.
turning intensely to God
who is our light
.
So the first call
is to prayer
.
and that through the crucified Christ
for the spiritual life
.
does not consist merely
in study or meditation
.
there must also be fervour and devotion
wonder
.
joy
grace
.
humility
and love
.
To any who are disposed
to seek for grace in all humility
.
To those with the desire
for wisdom
.
Who wish to glorify
saviour God
.
These words are meant
remembering that the soul herself
.
Must first be cleansed
if the eyes are to see
.
Beyond the window of the world
to look to God
.
Exercise your heart
in reading these things
.
as well as your mind
take your time
.
for these words
are the stepping stones
.
To
Eternity.
You may or may not know this beautiful painting by William Blake:
…or this older icon…
They both take up a very ancient idea that goes back over thousands of years.
“He saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” is another version (Jacob’s dream, from The Book of Genesis).
St. Bonaventure seized my interest with his own account of life as an upward journey in one of my favourite books: “Journey of the Mind to God“:
“the material universe is a ladder by which we may ascend to God”.
St. Bonaventure goes on to describe three ways we can seek God – remarkable in their clarity and accessibility.
1. “First…we must pass through vestiges which are corporeal and temporal and outside us” (he means “nature”!)
2. “Next we must enter our mind, which is the image of God, an image which is everlasting, and spiritual and within us”
3. “Finally we must go beyond to what is eternal, most spiritual and beyond us.”
I find that so amazing:
Do all three ring true with you, or one especially, or none at all?
What follows is one of a number of poems I have written, inspired by St. Bonaventure:
.
The three
Ways of seeing
.
Firstly the world about us
our senses perceive
.
Secondly the soul within
which only the spirit knows
.
Thirdly the mind
venturing beyond itself
.
Into new worlds
unseen and unknown.
The breeze
Brings blessing
From hills
And fields and sky
As if
The inspiration
Were the true
Vocation
Of the soul
Seeking wisdom, unity.
Inspired by “The Prelude”, Wordsworth, Book 1, Lines 1-6
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Prelude_(Wordsworth)
” WISDOM and Spirit of the universe!
Thou Soul, that art the Eternity of thought!
And giv’st to forms and images a breath
And everlasting motion! not in vain,
By day or star-light, thus from my first dawn
Of childhood didst thou intertwine for me
The passions that build up our human soul;
Not with the mean and vulgar works of Man;
But with high objects, with enduring things,
With life and nature; purifying thus
The elements of feeling and of thought,
And sanctifying by such discipline
Both pain and fear,–until we recognise
A grandeur in the beatings of the heart. “
by William Wordsworth
All things
Are charged with love
.
Charged
With God
.
If we but knew
How to receive
.
Their sparks
Of glory.
.
Inspired by some words of Gerard Manley Hopkins
.
