LIMINAL QUESTIONS—SOLSTICE 2022 TO SOLSTICE 2023
What surprises, what challenges would I find, if I sought the depth of each moment, of the now?
How can I make your Loving Presence visible in the world today?
Help me to be aware of your presence, Lord.
Will I develop attentive listening in the silence and depths of my inner self so as to be open to the dark & move toward the light?
How do I live in darkness and still be light for others?
How, God, are you breaking through my life this day?
How to come to deeper acceptance that it’s not about me?
In what concrete ways am I aligning with the power of Divine Love in my everyday life ?
How am I being a living sanctuary for the Divine in me and in all that is?
How are we "I Am-ing" your affective power within me, with me, around me and through me during this Advent time?
How might I live the invitation “NOT ME, BUT CHRIST LIVING IN ME AND THROUGH ME?”
What is it in me that is God's image and likeness and how do I bring that forward in these challenging times?
How can I be totally one with the Divine, in my heart and my soul?
Radiant Love Divine by S. Maryanne Zakreski, SSJ (shared at the February 7, 2022 session)
Marianne mentioned "The Sound of Silence" at the December 10th Session...
"The Sound Of Silence" (Simon & Garfunkel)
Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools," said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence."
Maritza's Translation of Llama de Amor Viva ...Shared at the October 8th Session
Oh, Loves living flame
which tenderly wounds
my soul at its deepest center!;
Well, you are no longer elusive
Finish now, if you want;
Rip the cloth of this sweet encounter.
Oh, gentle cautery!
Oh, gifted sore!
Oh, soft hand! Oh, delicate touch,
which tastes of eternal life
and pays all debts.
Killing, death into life you have exchanged.
Oh, lamps of fire
in whose glow
the deep caverns of sense,
which was dark and blind,
with strange delicacies,
give heat and light together
to his beloved.
(her? their? Original is possessive gender neutral)
What meek and loving
memories in my bosom
where secretly only you dwell;
and in your pleasant breath
full of goodness and glory,
how delicately you make me fall in love with you!
Oh, Loves living flame!
St. John of the Cross
Note….Is it?
Flame of living love
Living flame of love
Flame alive with love
All of them are viable translations
Oh llama de amor viva,
que tiernamente hieres
de mi alma en el más profundo centro!;
pues ya no eres esquiva,
acaba ya, si quieres;
rompe la tela de este dulce encuentro.
¡Oh cauterio suave!
¡Oh regalada llaga!
¡Oh mano blanda! ¡Oh toque delicado,
que a vida eterna sabe
y toda deuda paga!
Matando, muerte en vida la has trocado.
¡Oh lámparas de fuego,
en cuyos resplandores
las profundas cavernas del sentido,
que estaba oscuro y ciego,
con extraños primores
calor y luz dan junto a su querido!
¡Cuán manso y amoroso
recuerdas en mi seno,
donde secretamente solo moras;
y en tu aspirar sabroso
de bien y gloria lleno,
cuán delicadamente me enamoras!
¡Oh llama de amor viva!
San Juan de la Cruz
Anita's Reflection at Easter Mass...Shared at the April 23rd Session
Drawn to Catholic Eucharist,
God speaks there, as expected again.
“In the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit...”
I feel Christ’s cross cover me.
Coinciding.
She feels her difference, unnerved.
But disappears
And accepts the covering.
Christ is singing today’s Psalm.
“Taste and see the Goodness of God!”
I am knowing how Jesus Living feels.
“Stay here,” the Spirit directs.
Upon my outstretched arms, the Cross is consoling.
There is only desiring
to be Gift.
Presently, there comes a new covering —
Of a blessed and broken host by Another.
Bread that feeds this seedling of Earth,
One particular needed Word named Me...
There’s much more to be relinquished and consumed.
Yet, the Giving is the Tasting of this Love.