About 10 years ago I had a spiritual awakening that opened up a whole new area of experience of the divine. Some people encounter God as they are with the poor. Others see God most clearly in other people. But my most intense experience of the divine is in the silence and solitude of contemplative prayer. Maybe that is because I am an introvert--don't know! But I do know that God took over my pray-ing about 10 years ago, and my life has never been the same since then. I started with a yearning for God, and spent lots of frustrating hours trying to "meditate" (I never did figure that out too well). Then God took pity on me and drew me to herself--folded me in his arms--ravished my soul and filled me with divine delight--a delight that drives me to be completely owned by God. Now all I care about is being God's. A Sufi poem describes it well:
Slaves and cattle are branded
to name ownership
My lover has branded me so that I am not mine
but His.
His voice has branded my ear,
His touch my skin.
My eyes are blinded to all
but His Form
My mouth has been reshaped
by His Kiss
And would taste only
His Sweetness.
When I do not breathe His Perfume
the air is foul
My heart is branded with His Name
And it cries out endlessly
Having been given freedom
I burn and wait for Him to
claim His Ownership.
Friday, June 30, 2006
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