"God passes through the thicket of the world, and where His
glance falls He turns all things to beauty.”
(St. John of the Cross)
God’s glance seems to have fallen
on cloister gardens lately. In my part
of the world, gray shades of winter have given way to greens and
yellows and pinks. Spring itself appears to have been bypassed, erased from the calendar, as sudden blossoms
race toward July.
It is, I think, a time for relishing. Whatever the weather outside our own doors,
we can take time to notice it. Perhaps
our “exercise” today can be that of noticing.
Maybe we can take a moment during this day or evening to sit down, sit
still, sit back, and allow ourselves to find – perhaps in something right
before us - the presence of God.
“Creation is a great book.
Look above you; look below you!
Note it; read it! God did not
write that book with ink. Instead, He
set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth cry out to you: ‘God made me!’” (St. Augustine)
For prayer and meditation:
“Arise, My beloved, My beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are
over and gone. The flowers appear on
the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is
heard in our land. The fig tree puts
forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and
come!” (Song of Songs 2:10-13)
(photo © 2010 N Shuman)