May you find comfort in slowing your mind and a spiritual deepening in focusing on your soul center. The Dominican Sisters~Grand Rapids invite you to a pattern of contemplation through these weekly reflections. We pray for and with you. May God bless you and keep you in these days.

Go to the limits of your longing

God speaks to each of us as God makes us,
Then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
Go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like flame
And make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you:
beauty and terror.
Just keep going, No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the city they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilke’s Book of Hours I, 59 p. 88

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my right hand. -- Isaiah 41:10

Reflecting…

Reflect and perhaps journal with the following questions and, if possible, engage in contemplative dialogue on them.

News reports these days are filled with images of beauty and terror.

  • What do those images evoke in you? To what might those feelings be inviting you/us?
  • My deepest longing for the world right now is …   
  • How might I/we embody God in this challenging time?

Concluding Prayer: Ephesians 3:20

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Amen.”

 

NOTE: This reflection for the week of March 30, 2020 can be downloaded as a PDF and printed. march_30_-_go_to_the_limits_of_your_longing

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my right hand. Isaiah 41:10