Dear Friends,
We hope this last week has been a good one for you?? I have been disappointed in the weather – I so look forward to June but it hasn’t been great, has it? The attachments are ‘in hope’ that a real summer arrives soon. We do have a few recipients of the Saturday Reflections who live in sunnier climes – we hope you are enjoying the sunshine.
You will enjoy the blessing, I think: Bless to me, O God from the CD ‘Heavenly Peace’.
With our love & prayer
Seasons
You discover, within your winter,
A summer-time that never ends;
You hold the earth & all people
As you hold the hearts of those you love;
You trust in dawn at the darkest hour;
You accept your weakness & it makes you strong;
When you try to live in the present moment:
You know your freedom is truly won
And you dance on your grave like the Easter Son/Sun.
Little Summer
Mary Oliver
Every summer
I listen and look
under the sun’s brass and even
in the moonlight, but I can’t hear
anything, I can’t see anything—
not the pale roots digging down,
nor the green stalks muscling up,
nor the leaves
deepening their damp pleats,
nor the tassels making,
nor the shucks, nor the cobs.
And still,
every day,
the leafy fields
grow taller and thicker—
green gowns lifting up in the night,
showered with silk.
And so, every summer,
I fail as a witness, seeing nothing—
I am deaf too
to the tick of the leaves,
the tapping of downwardness from the banyan feet—
all of it
happening
beyond all seeable proof, or hearable hum.
And, therefore, let the immeasurable come.
Let the unknowable touch the buckle of my spine.
Let the wind turn in the trees,
and the mystery hidden in dirt
swing through the air.
How could I look at anything in this world
and tremble, and grip my hands over my heart?
What should I fear?
One morning
in the leafy green ocean
the honeycomb of the corn’s beautiful body
is sure to be there,
A Summer Psalm for the End of the Day.
O beloved friend & Earth Designer,
This day’s light is seeping away,
And dark night crouches
Beneath the amber horizon.
I am weary from the work of this warm day,
But not so weary that I can forget
This day’s rich harvest of gifts.
I lift my heart to you,
Singing a sunset song of gratitude.
I praise you for the blessings that fill my life,
For the gifts I can recall
And for treasures I take for granted.
Gently refresh me now
With your evergreen pardon
For my failure to drink deeply of your love,
Hidden cleverly in each gift
That has come my way today.
Forgive my rushing past
The countless visions of you, unique to this day,
Held so tenderly in the beauty of your love.
Forgive my absent-mindedness, the deafness of my ears,
My senses blinded by my busyness today.
Blessed are you, Holy Parent,
Who will soon wrap me in sleep
And cradle me in the womb of your peace.