Taize Chicago Pilgrimage of Trust

Just returned from my taste of Taize in Chicago.  We went to Chicago because of the Pilgrimage, but I have "aged out" and my kids have not "aged in" yet, so we just went to a few of the prayers and were tourists the rest of the time.  I reconnected with old friends who I met in Dayton 20 years ago.  The pilgrimage continues....

Taize has been so fundamentally formative for me in so many ways:  formed my singing voice, shaped how I think of sacred space, given me a guiding story for beginning anything new, planted seeds in me of Gospel truths, shown me how living/weaving threads of faith that can grow into a cloth of unimagined beauty....  It's the story of Br. Roger and my small experience of the peace and love that flowed out of him that is the most powerful.

If I had gone alone, I could have participated more fully, because, as it turned out, they let the older people participate in the groups.  But, I wouldn't have traded sitting on the carpeted floor of the Depaul Gym with my children, hearing them sing, for anything.  Alle-llu-jia....

It made me realize my thirst to experience their prayer three times a day, my longing to have it wash deeply through my soul, carving its lovely channels in my being.  And it gives me courage to take them to Taize, though the how/when is hazy.

In gratitude!

Robert was thrilled because he got in one of the photos on the Taize website of the prayer in Chicago.  Sophie is just to his right and I'm the dark head sticking up on the far right because I was sitting on my zafu.

Ways of discernment

Living moment by moment. This moment is the time to ask "God come to my assistance - Lord, make haste to help me."

What do I do next? How do I respond to the demands of the moment, to my goals for the day and the invitations from my children that come to me? Those invitations that I can hear as "shoulds" or "demands."

And then there are the invitations to engagement outside the walls of the home. To find a way forward, I will listen to the cries of the poor. The poor - the voice in my head, the needs of my family, the spiritual hunger in the world, those with concrete needs for a place in the world, a way to live fully engaged lives.

I've always hoped that my zig-zagging vocational discernment would ultimately reveal a discernable pattern when viewed from a divine perspective. All will be revealed.

When faced with concrete choices about what to do next, I'm listening to the invitations. I want to tend the cries of the poor in my head, in my heart, in my family, in my life.... This will bring healing and a way will be revealed, moment by moment.

Keep your eyes on the light

Today I was reminded to focus my eyes on the light and not the shadows. My own sense of things is never the whole story. And I don't generate the light. Hopefully, if I keep looking for it and focus on it, it will fill my mind and I will reflect it outward. Relax and open, remember to look outward and even the puddles will reflect the sky above.

This also makes me think of the Gospel song, "Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on." Keep your eyes on the prize, on the light, relax your shoulders and open your heart. That's my modification for today.

Beginning

I've had this blog for a while now and never posted. I had even forgotten what title I had given it and was just now startled by the photo I selected. Nice to be surprised by oneself. So, today is the first day. Simple beginning. Simply beginning.

Unfolding is an inviting, challenging and yet comforting word for me. At a turning point in my life when I was stuck in indecision about whether to move to another city, I was floating in a lake with a friend and suddenly I saw in my mind's eye the image of a lotus flower falling open in my chest. Along with it came a visceral feeling of peace, ease, possibility and invitation. I knew I was right where I needed to be. The image showed me that I was rooted and nourished. I stayed and I am still here.

The slab glass window was made by Joan Hector at Apple Farm Community in Three Rivers, Michigan. It speaks to me and I aspire to make such a window.