May Thoughts

              May Thoughts:

Even our sister Mother Earth speaks of the Heavenly Mother often and keeps her ever before us for those with eyes to see... a shadow of stone, a shape in the clouds, an angle in the crook of a tree, a turning of the head or the rising and falling of the light, these are the sermons of the earth and they always reveal her. In these gentle whisperings she is always near... always watching over us... always leading us to her Son... always calling us home... always calling us into the embrace of the sacred totality of her yes to God.

Here, Now, In; 3 Doors to Presence

3 Doors to Contemplative Presence:

Here.

Now.

In.

There is only one time: Now.

There is only one place: Here

There is only one direction: In

There is only one time: Now.

The past can only become a source of wisdom, after that it is left in the hands of Divine Mercy...

The future is hidden, but belongs to Divine Providence... 

So worry and anxiety are useless. 

God intends the best for you and will not deny any gift or grace that will enable you to become all you are meant to be. 

What we perceive as a "No" in prayer to a desire is really always a "Yes" to the fulfilment of the desire in a better and deeper way than we could have imagined at that time.

The Present arises from the moment by moment loving attention of Divine Compassion... 

Your "job" is to get past the distractions so as to see the Now for what it is: 

Divine Love in action... 

Co-operate with this Love that is God, 

yield to it fully and be faithful to its call 

and the present becomes an infinite space 

of encounter with the God who IS Love.

There is only one place: Here

You are nowhere but here. 

Here, wherever it is for you in this moment we call now, is the place of Divine Encounter. 

It is your desert, your temple, your tabernacle, your burning bush. 

“God", said St. Bonaventure, "is One whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." 

Divine Presence is always fully present to you. You are just distracted by all the thoughts and desires of egoic nature that would have you yearn to be elsewhere in different circumstances. 

If you are here then so is God and your here is where He will work with and through you for the building of the kingdom, if you but tune in and know; and it is this attendance to the present moment that changes our circumstances. 

If you are in a place of trauma or pain then this may require physically moving from that space. But you are never journeying to God. God is with you here in your pain and with deep listening to Him right here, right now the path and call to move and to heal will be made clear.

He is where you are 

that you may be one day 

consciously where He IS.

There is only one direction: In.

All other directions are limited. 

Eventually we tire of them, 

we exhaust them and are exhausted by them.

We discover that they are fading and will one day fade completely. 

All except In. 

Only In lasts. 

Only In is. 

In is the direction that brings us to the true self, and through the true self to the place of stillness and emptiness and clarity, 

beyond the false and fallen self, 

where we finally know our true centre, our heart, 

beholding it in the Light of Divine Love 

from which it first arose as a perfect idea. 

We were eternally an idea in the Divine Mind, 

a movement of the infinitely creative love that we call God, 

who in the fullness of time 

brought us into being, 

loved us into being, 

holds us in being in Love 

and calls us to abide in Love eternally. 

In teaches us who we are. 

We discover we are love loved by Love. 

All other names may change, 

all other circumstances 

may come and go, 

arise and fall, 

change and even disappear. 

Only love is eternal. 

Only In In brings us to the source of real Love.

There is only one time: Now.

There is only one place: Here

There is only one direction: In

Cocoon; a meditation on metamorphosis

 Cocoon

Do not expect cocooning 

To be easy.

It is not a time of rest

But of rebirth.

They used to think 

That the Caterpillar 

Merely slept there,

Awaiting the wonder of wings.

This is not true.

To cocoon means 

The breaking down of self,

Of letting go of all 

that may be considered 

Caterpillar.

Yielding to the chrysalis call.

Dropping all that is old identity, 

All that is desire,

All that is hungry, 

All that is eating, eating, eating,

Endlessly.

When the moment comes, called

To go to the cool dark underleaf, underlog place,

To spin the silk of silent self,

The Caterpillar dissolves,

Touches the point of nothingness

Of being;

Become now

Neither Caterpillar

Nor Butterfly

Become simply, potential,

Until new form is found,

Until the selfmade tomb is too tight

And Butterfly is birthed, 

bursting blessing, beauty.

A journey through stillness 

into freedom,

Into flight,

No one who knew the Caterpillar

Would know it in the Butterfly,

No one who knows the Butterfly 

Would see in it 

Even the memory

Of Caterpillar,

Yet within there is

A continuity of being

A new recipe out of old ingredients

A life remade, a seed flowered, a potency fulfilled,

There is pain in this

I am sure.

How could there not be?

There is always pain 

In surrender,

In transformation,

In new life, new birth

Death before resurrection,

Letting go, before letting be

This is the divine order of things

This is why there hides

Even here, even now,

In all your old Caterpillar desiring,

In the hunger at the core of your being,

The promise of Butterfly

If you would but surrender 

To the call

Of the cocoon.

If you would know, 

even for a day,

The wonder of wings

The freedom of flight.

8th May 2020 

Pic without attribution on the web