A-Z Challenge Day 2 - Benedictus, Beauty

On to Day 2 - Beauty - Dictionary  definitions:A combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight; A combination of qualities that pleases theintellect. 

Only skin deep? In the eye of the beholder? The older I get, the more words just don't do it for me. Maybe simply feeling without wasting precious time trying to encapsulate  is enough. Encountering beauty through nature; the photo above is from our epic trip through the Highlands five years ago, am apt example. I'll leave the capturing to those more articulate and able than myself.

One such  is the late John O'Donohue, poet, artist and philosopher, heard here in one of his last interviews before his sudden and premature death in 2008, talking with Krista Tippett on The Inner Landscape of Beauty. I especially love his definition of spirituality as the art of homecoming.

I always associate him with Greenbelt, though, sadly, I was never to  hear him talk, as I didn't begin to attend the  festival until summer of 2008. I do though treasure a copy  what I think may have been one of his last works: the anthology of blessings: Benedictus, and we also had a poem from his Conamara Blues, read out at my mother-in law's - Mr GP's mother's funeral.

To me, John had the ability to hold the tension between both the beauty and the dark side of our natures and of the world, yet at the same time open our  minds to new landscapes, the which we could hardly have imagined were possible. I encountered his works for the first time when I was transitioning between churches and traditions. To discover such a resource then, an antidote to some of the dogmatic certainties which I so struggled with, was indeed a blessing.

A-Z Challenge Day 1 - Anima Christi

We're off. Welcome to the first  of my personal A-Z Challenge posts  for 2016. What have we in our lucky dip today? Art journaling perhaps? anteater? anthropomorphism? Alice in Wonderland? 

Hard choice. Still, given that  those of us who are of a Christian persuasion are  currently in Holy Week, I plumped on the Anima Christi, (Soul of Christ), one of the key prayers used in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. The which is in part an explanation for my long long absence from the blogosphere. I made the full 'Exercises' in their residential form back last autumn at St Beunos Jesuit spirituality centre in North Wales, UK, and have been processing and unpacking my time there  ever since. It's a once in a lifetime experience for most of us; unless you happen to be a Jesuit, which I'm not! 

So to the Anima Christi. The version I've posted here is David Fleming SJ's popular paraphrase of the original ;  one  which I found spoke to me most. Our little group were each given a copy of Hearts on Fire and of all the prayers there, this one stood out and became a mainstay for me during my time in retreat. It is, after all, one that's often recommended you pray before a time of prayer, it's introduced early on during the First Week . It's a very trinitarian,  exemplifiying  the whole ethos and key movement of the exercises: to help the retreatant journey towards a  freedom of complete dependence and self-giving to Christ and to become His ambassador in the world. I'd love to say that by the time I returned home after more than a month of intense prayer and mediation that I was permanently in that place! But I'd be lying. And I'm sure that family, friends and everyone who has to deal with me on a day to day basis would agree!  Here it is, anyway.

Jesus, may all that is in you flow into me.

May your body and blood be my food and drink.

May your passion and death be my strength and life.

Jesus, with you by my side enough has been given.

May the shelter I seek be the shadow of your cross.

Let me not run from the love which you offer.

But hold me safe from the forces of evil.

On each of my dyings shed your light and your love.

Keep calling to me until that day comes.

When with our saints, I may praise you forever.

Amen

David Fleming, S.J.

Soul of Christ Prayer

Source:  Hearts on Fire: Praying With the Jesuits (pp. 3-4)

The Long Shadow of The Cross

Catching up on my blog roll over lunch. Here are links to a couple of bloggers who've given me thought: Avila of A Weeble's Wonderings on Marking Easter in the company of depression and Rebecca, Managing Director of the wonderful Dodopad, without which my life would be even more chaotic than it is, on our responses to last week's attacks in Brussels.

Good Friday

The Good Friday service and Kirsten's reflections on  Bach's St Matthew Passion have prompted  me to put  fingers to keyboard once more.  Anyone who has read my last year's A-Z Challenge will realise that one of the many works which has inspired me over the years is Faure's Requiem, in particular, the  Agnus Dei. 

It's been a strange few days for me, given that this is, metaphorically and spiritually speaking, the second Holy Week I've been through since last Easter. I suspect I'll elaborate more on this during the upcoming A-Z, but suffice it to say that I've not gone drifting off into some parallel universe during my long absence from blogging. No, it's because in late  2015, I made the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius, the full, 30 Day retreat, where of course the Passion, death and resurrection of our Lord feature largely. So Holy Week, for me and the other several dozen retreatants, was during the hinge of autumn and winter;  the end of October and the beginning of November, as the days began to shorten and all around us, the leaves were changing colour, falling and beginning to decay. 

Faure's Requiem became one of my mainstays during those days, whether hummed under my breath or listening to the CD down in the basement of the retreat centre, where the noise wouldn't disturb anyone else. I also spent much time out of doors, roaming the gloriously beautiful grounds or alternatively, working in the art centre.  I seem to sense God's presence in a far more sensate way nowadays than used to be the case when I was younger. Not surprising I guess, that this came so much to the fore during such an intense period of prayer and reflection. The Exercises are by way of being a marathon, in whichever form you make them: full residential or everyday life over a number of months. I did have a tendency to get too much 'into my head' to begin with, especially when encountering the sometimes quite structured way the suggested reflections  can appear at first. I've always been a one to panic when confronted with lists, heading, subheadings and Things In Brackets! So it took a while for me to acclimatise and realise that the maxim 'Pray as you can, not as you can't' really does ring true.

Getting back to the Agnus Dei, the photo above is of a wallhanging I made after praying through the Crucifixion. It's inspired by a favourite meditation by Alison  Swinfen of the Iona Community, taken  from the anthology Iona - Images and Reflections, (Wild Goose Publications). The words embroidered onto the host are a misquote (no books with me on retreat!) of her title: And so you love us back into the earth.  You can read  the whole text here. Scroll down to see the photo that comes with it.  I learned a lot about hopelessness, helplessness, perseverance  and waiting in the face of darkness and apparent nothingness during that 'Holy Week,' and it was images, prose, poetry and music that helped me to cling on . 

A-Z Blogging Challenge 2016 - Theme Reveal

NOUN (plural potpourris)

[MASS NOUN]

1

A mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room.

1.1

A mixture or medley of things:

he played a potpourri of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan

Origin

Early 17th century (denoting a stew made of different kinds of meat): from French, literally 'rotten pot'.

Oxford Dictionary

...and the theme for 2016 is....ta dahhh!! Yes, you've guessed it...much the same as last year! A potpourri, a lucky dip, a miscellany of bits 'n bobs. (As a Myers-Briggs IN, I prefer to keep my options open). 

So, beginning on April 1st, I'll be blogging my way through the alphabet, one letter each day, apart from Sundays. From Aardvarks to Zechariah, Athanasian  Creed to Zumba, who knows what exotic perfumes will permeate the portals of blogspot.uk! What literary, poetical and spiritual casseroles lie simmering on the Greenpatches hob? What's stewing? I'll leave you with some wise words to ponder, from my late, great Domestic Science teacher, ( the aptly  named Mrs Potts):

Stewing is - long slow cooking, with  a small amount of water, in a vessel with a tightly-fitted lid!

(Not quite) A Year Ago - A-Z Blog Challenge

Was it only a year ago? Why do I do it? You'll notice a new, shiny badge on my sidebar. (It took a bit of adjusting; I nearly squashed my faithful followers in the process). Still, we're here, I'm ready, and on Monday, if I can make out the illegible scribblings in my notebook, all will be revealed!

Breaking the Silence 2

Ahem...

Knock knock
Who's there?
GP
GP who?

GP me- lured back by the prospect of the next



A-Z Challenge!

Now to cook up a theme!