I Touch Light

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey."

Words: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Image: Barbara Desrosiers

Genesis

“Both favor and folly are part of the human condition. Heart cries, however, can always be the genesis of healing.”

Words: Charles R. Ringma in The Seeking Heart: A Journey with Henry Nouwen

Image: Morning Meditation by Barbara Desrosiers

Exile And Return

Yesterday we were connected. Shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand, we stood together, we knelt, and we wept.

You would think after Good Friday's pain and suffering, there would be some relief. No. We are alone, the altar is bare, and we carry the cross of exile.

Holy Saturday is about exile. We don’t know what will be revealed tomorrow.

The revelation of return and the end of exile.

Image: "Crucifixion" by Barbara Desrosiers

Words: C. Robin Janning

Sanctuary

We seek the sanctuary of liturgy and commemoration this week. We need these places, sanctuaries, to bring our pain and find our hope.

As artists we go about the work of creating sanctuaries, and in today's Morning Prayer Rite II (as published in The Book of Common Prayer) we read this prayer:

"O God, who by your Holy Spirit give to some the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, and to others the word of faith: We praise you for the gifts of preaching through visual representation that you gave to your servants Albrecht Duerer and Michaelangelo Buonarroti, and we pray that your Church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns, with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

Image: Sanctuary by Barbara Desrosiers

Melodies Eternally New

Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail
vessel thou emptiest again and again,
and fillest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales,
and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.

At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in
joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.
Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.

Words by Rabindranath Tagore
Image by Barbara Desrosiers

Becoming

On the Journey Towards Becoming a Peacemaker
by Rabbi Albert M. Lewis

What if God were to speak to us now; to give us a fresh look at what's real, true, and the core of our world? Might God say, "Be just, be kind, care, share, give, take, love, laugh, cry, feel the pain, and dance in the time of joy"? And what would we hear? Would it be what we want to hear, or what was said? Could we each hear in our own way? Must we all be of the same mind? Must the one who hears at twelve feet fight with the one who hears at twelve yards? Will the black one and the white one and the child of the land all know God in the same way? And if not, will they then fight?

What if God said, "I grant you a gift: a world full of peace, health, and food for all. I give you a time, now, when each may sit by his vine and by her fig tree and none will cause you fear"? Would we heed the words? If God came to each of us in a dream, would we hold the dream in our hearts and souls, or would we cast it off as just a dream? What would it take to look deep with in, where we live and know truth, and there to find the one God, who cries for us and waits and hopes and says, "I am here. Do not fear. Live, love, talk, and walk hand in hand with me. Let no child learn war anymore, but let each bring what is right and just in his home and in her land!"-

(Rabbi Lewis has written this reflection using only one-syllable words. It is an old discipline, intended to be simple but not simplistic.)

RABBI ALBERT M. LEWIS is the Director of the Emeritus College at Aquinas, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a weekly columnist for The Grand Rapids Press

Seen above: Contemplating Vincent by artist Barbara Desrosiers

Nature's Child

"Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies."

Words by John O'Donohue in
To Bless the Space Between Us:
A Book of Blessings

Image: Nature's Child by Barbara Desrosiers

In Shalom, II

Guest Commentary by Barbara L. Desrosiers"

Send Thy peace, O Lord,
which is perfect and everlasting,
that our souls may radiate peace."
(Sufi Prayer for Peace)

C. Robin Janning’s "In Shalom" (seen above) came to me quietly, like a foggy memory. I recognized the feeling, but wasn’t sure why. Then it struck me: it is holy graffiti, left hidden on the walls of my heart while I was embroiled in life’s turmoils. The surface pulses with the power of diluted blood, signs of a weary heart. The colors are warm, but sad, as if one has tried in vain to wash away the blood stains of a pain-filled life. The etchings of dark scar the surface in an ancient way, saying "look, you can’t erase the past." It is the cement wall of my stubbornness dripping with God’s gentle touch. The scarring of pain merges beautifully with the emergence of a new, triune hope.

That hope emerges as flowers, arising from beneath the surface. They bring with them the promise of "shalom." This shalom is much more than the simple translation of "peace" we generally use in the English language. It is a deep, multi-dimensional term with an intense history. It is a completeness, a secure peace, a victory over discord.

Partners in Urban Transformation put it thusly, ". . .at its fullest, shalom captures the Hebrew vision of human society, the non-human world and even the environment in an integrated and relational whole where ‘the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox’(Isa. 65:25)."

"In Shalom" aims to do just that, to speak of a unified world, one of forgiveness and gentleness. It is a quiet painting with a powerful duty. In Shalom radiates peace: peace for the individual, peace for the whole world. Robin’s painting lingers in one’s psyche, a mark of holiness, calling one back to the desert for renewed baptism in its quiet presence.

Editors Note: You can see Barbara L. Desrosiers' art at Turtle Spirit Studio. Her art and her words have been featured at Episcopal Cafe and in the ECVA Exhibition Art and Faith, A Spiritual Journey.

As seen above: "In Shalom" by C. Robin Janning