Anul se apropie de capat, iar noi multumim pentru darurile lui si pentru felul în care ni s-au întiparit în suflet, acolo unde nu le pot atinge nici vremurile, nici valurile.
Multumim pentru zilele când pe chipurile celor pe care-i iubim a stralucit bucuria unei lumini de dincolo de ei ; si pentru zilele când, descatusat, un izvor de lacrimi adânc îngropat a început sa curga iar.
Binecuvântam acest an pentru tot ce-am învatat, pentru tot ce am iubit si am pierdut, si pentru felul tainic în care ne-a apropiat de nevazuta noastra destinatie.
As this year draws to its end, We give thanks for the gifts it brought And how they become inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.
Days when beloved faces shone brighter With light from beyond themselves; And from the granite of some secret sorrow A stream of buried tears loosened.
We bless this year for all we learned, For all we loved and lost And for the quiet way it brought us Nearer to our invisible destination.
John O’Donohue
Excerpt from ‘At the End of the Year’
BENEDICTUS (Europe) / TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US (US)
Méditation pour Noël 2017, sur le site „Retraite dans la ville” des frères dominicains de Lille, en marge de l’évangile du jour, le Prologue de St Jean.
Frère André Tavares, o.p.
Province du Brésil
Si, en ce matin de Noël, je vous dis « feliz natal » dans la langue portugaise de mon Brésil natal, vous ne comprenez pas nécessairement ce que je dis. Mais si, maintenant, je vous souhaite « joyeux Noël », vous me comprenez bien, mais vous devinez que je ne suis ni Parisien ni Picard.
Je viens d’ailleurs. Vous percevez que je parle avec un accent, n’est-ce pas ? Et chaque accent révèle sa langue maternelle. Notre langue maternelle est celle avec laquelle notre mère a répondu quand nous avons crié de faim. Dans cette langue, nous avons appris à appeler nos parents, à réciter nos premières prières, à exprimer nos sentiments, à structurer notre pensée.
Si j’apprends ta langue, je ne fais pas seulement l’effort de m’exprimer pour que tu me comprennes, mais j’entre dans ton monde. Je vous invite à penser notre présence dans le monde, ce monde que Dieu a tant aimé, à partir de l’accent chrétien. Cet accent chrétien, c’est l’accent de Jésus. Ses premiers disciples le percevront quand le Maître parlera dans leur langue, d’une manière tellement originale, avec une humble autorité, une noble simplicité. On peut aussi appeler cette différence chrétienne « l’accent du Royaume des cieux ». C’est déjà celui des anges qui nous invitent, avec les bergers, à adorer l’enfant et chanter la gloire de Dieu ( Évangile selon saint Luc chapitre 2, versets 10 à 14).
L’Esprit saint qui a fécondé la Vierge Marie et conduit Jésus nous donne l’accent du Royaume de Dieu. Prendre l’accent de Jésus, c’est entrer dans l’intimité du Père. Joyeux Noël !
Fiecare om care, departe de ai sai, învata o limba straina o face pentru a comunica cu cei printre care se afla, si asta chiar daca pastreaza un accent din limba lui materna . „Accentul crestin” este cel al Domnului Isus, care vorbeste cu accentul lui originar, cel al Împaratiei cerurilor. Cine vorbeste cu acelasi accent intra si el în Împaratia Tatalui, în intimitatea dumnezeiasca.
Actorul Richard Bohringer si sora dominicana Anne Lécu, medic, dialogheaza despre rugaciunea Psalmilor. O rugaciune care exprima trairile întregii umanitati si care se face în numele tuturor, sau personal, dupa caz. Nu dureaza decât 2 minute si ceva, merita.
Julian of Norwich Stained Glass, Norwich Cathedral. Photo by Ian-S, used by permission.
The great medieval mystic Julian of Norwich is renowned for her theological optimism (“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”) as well as for her willingness to color outside the gendered lines (“As truly as God is our father, so too is God our mother”).
She certainly demonstrated a clear contemplative sensibility (“The fullness of joy is to behold God in all”) — so it surprises me that more people do not think of her as a master teacher in the art of Christian prayer.
That may be because she is somewhat overshadowed, in that department, by her contemporary, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing. But Julian has plenty of solid teaching, in her own right, on how to pray. The other day I was asked to give a talk at a nearby Episcopal Church on the subject of Julian’s teaching on prayer, so it seems to me it’s worth summarizing that talk here on the blog.
What Julian of Norwich taught me about prayer.
God is the ground of our praying. In other words, God is the foundation of all prayer — vocal prayer as well as more meditative or contemplative prayer. Scripture is explicit that “We love because God first loved us,” in a similar way, we pray because God is in our hearts, inspiring us with a longing for prayer, for heaven, and indeed for the heart of God.
Prayer unites the soul with God. Prayer makes the soul like God. In her original middle English text, Julian says that “prayer oneth (ones) the soul with God.” What a lovely and powerful image. Of course, it is the Holy Spirit who makes us one with God, but it is also the Holy Spirit who is the ground of our praying. Prayer is the means by which we recognize the oneness/union that the Holy Spirit has already given to us.
God wants us to be generous in prayer and trust alike. To be honest, I’m still working on this one. I tend to be stingy with prayer — at least with the amount of time I give to prayer — and I’m very stingy with my ability to trust. Julian challenges us here: “Do you truly want union with God? Be generous, give your trusting heart and your praying soul to God, holding nothing back — and watch what happens!”
It is God’s will that we seek God, gladly and merrily. Sure, everyone has bad days, but Julian warns us to keep from turning prayer into a dour duty or grumblesome obligation. Pray like you’re dancing with your beloved, not like you’re filling out your tax forms. And if you do tend to fall into tax-form-face when you pray, well, do something about it!
Pray inwardly, even if it seems to give you no pleasure. It is bringing great benefit, even if you do not perceive it. Pray inwardly, even if you sense nothing, see nothing, even if you think you are achieving nothing. For it is in dryness and emptiness, in sickness and weakness, that our prayer pleases Christ most. See this in the light of #3 and #4 — sure, the ideal is to pray joyfully and generously, but in truth we don’t always pull that often. Yet Julian brings grace even to our messy, botched attempts at prayer. She suggest that when prayer feels the driest or drudgeriest, that’s precisely when the Holy Spirit is more at work in our hearts! Moral of the story: keep praying, no matter how it feels.
In Christ’s eyes, our whole life is a prayer. A Jesus-music band from the 1970s called 2nd Chapter of Acts sang a song called “Make My Life a Prayer to You.” In itself a prayer, I’ve always loved that way of thinking about prayer — and about life. Julian says we don’t even have to ask: in God’s eyes, our life is a prayer. So, the question we must consider: what, exactly, are we praying to God with our life?
The more the soul sees God, the more the soul desires to see God. Our longing comes from this grace. Indeed, The fullness of joy is to behold God in all. The corollary to recognizing that all of life is a prayer is to learn to see God in all of life. And that leads to joy — but it also leads to longing. The more we recognize God in all things, the more we yearn for God. It’s a beautiful, never-ending process: love opening up to greater desire and greater love.
The Showings of Julian of Norwich
Read Julian of Norwich for many reasons. Her visions are colorful, earthy, and insightful. She is truly a great mystic. But leavened within her writings is plenty of solid advice about how to deepen your own prayer life. So read Julian in order to learn how to pray.One of my favorite modern language translations of Julian of Norwich is by Mirabai Starr, called The Showings of Julian of Norwich: A New Translation. Another good option is the Halcyon Backhouse translation, Revelations of Divine Love.
Maybe the best way to finish this post is to quote Julian herself, with perhaps her most eloquent and lovely prayer:
God, of your goodness, give me yourself, for you are enough for me. I may ask nothing less that is fully to your worship, and if I do ask anything less, ever shall I be in want. Only in you I have all.
„Într-o noapte întunecată, cu spaime,de iubire înflăcărat, o, soartă fericită! am pornit fără să fi fost luat de nimeni în seamă, coborîndu-se acum pacea în inima mea,
pe întunecime și simțindu-mă apărat pe scara cea tainică,travestit, o, soartă fericită! în întunecime și pe ascuns, coborîndu-se acum pacea în casa mea…”
…….
„Cartea aceasta este o comparație între noaptea temporală și cea spirituală.
Pentru mine personal , este o lumânare aprinsă la ambele capete, este steaua polară la care visează orice navigator, este piatra filozofală, este comoara ascunsă în pământ. Am început acest exercițiu în urmă cu mulți ani- nu este ușor de făcut – cad și mă ridic mai curajoasă în această noapte întunecată în care am avut privilejul de a fi însoțită de îngerul meu păzitor-o stare perpetuă ce durează până în ziua cea mare când se va arăta -Cel ascuns atât de aproape-o noapte care unește Iubitul cu iubita, iubita în Iubit să o preschimbe!”
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