Sunday, July 10, 2011
Breaking silence
The wind blows hard against this mountain side
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road
....
Kyrie eleison
Down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison
Through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison
Where I'm going would you follow?
Kyrie eleison
on the highway in the light — from Kyrie by Mr. Mister
I'm back from almost 2 full weeks of silence, the last 8 days of them on retreat here. When I got back in the car to drive home Friday and hit play on the iPod, this song by Mr. Mister was at the top of my play list. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy down the road that I must travel. I loved the joyous beat of it all, propelling me back out into the world.
I gave up two things for the duration of the retreat — praying the Liturgy of the Hours and writing — as I waded deeply into the waters of the Exercises. It was hard to let go of these stalwart companions. And it was easy at the same time. All the while that wind reached far into the place where I could not hide....
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Love the music - played it for my tech boy who frequently plays music for the youth group at church.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your retreat went well. Thanks for leaving us reading material.
The concept of letting everything else go until you can't hide appeals to me. I have a hard time doing quiet for 20 minutes with my centering group - I'm not sure I could do days of it. You, Robin, and Wayne are making me think hard about trying.
The link to your retreat doesn't work. I am so curious: Where did you go? Welcome home!
ReplyDelete36 hours and I am on my way!
ReplyDeleteEssentia non multiplicanda sunt praeter necessitatem – that your dear Franciscan Occam could be taken devotionally to include in his razor – silence.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Cheers,
Jim
(... if you don’t mind a silent-worship Quaker for silently minding here occasionally ... in more urbane times, I would worship with the Carmelite sisters in Indianapolis, and they could be little chatter boxes when they wanted!, otherwise, silent ...)
Kathryn, the days just give you a chance to practice that 20 minutes over and over until you can make 25 minutes :)
ReplyDeleteAllison, I fixed the link, thanks!! I went to the Jesuit Center in Wernersville, PA -- which is "home ground" for me, where my regular spiritual director lives and where I dive into the silence regularly (every month if I can!)
Robin, I can't wait to see you!
And Jim, a silently present Quaker is a welcome guest here! And Francis and Occam are indeed soul mates on this one....
Huh.
ReplyDeleteI know Quakers are silent.
But we Presbies are loud!
(Or so a certain Wernersville spiritual director once told me.)
...I was pretty loud on retreat this time. I cantored, I screamed (twice) when startled by wildlife.
ReplyDelete