It’s January 1, 2016 – a new year. I started it wonderfully, in my prayer chair. For Christmas, my friend gave me "Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours.” It has prayers for every day of the week, dawn, day, dusk and night. Reading the dawn prayers today started my year off beautifully.
I feel such a peace of the presence of God. It may be special to my prayer chair – my heart knows that it's time to find God and rest when I sit here, but I also find it surprisingly even in busy Toronto parks when I pray. I think it’s both a grace, and the fruit of practice, for peace doesn’t always come easily.
I start my prayers by centering my spirit and remembering special times with God. Today, I sang “Veni, Sante Spiritus,” a hymn from Taizé, because this year I experienced a profound sense of the presence of God there. Then I read the dawn prayers for Friday. They're absolutely profound. Let me share with you the passage that touched me most deeply:
“One thing above all is important: the ‘return to the Father.’ The Son came to the world and died for us, rose and ascended to the Father; sent His Spirit, that in Him and with Him we might return to the Father. That we might pass clean out the midst of all that is transitory and inconclusive: return to the Immense, the Primordial, the Source, the unknown, to Him Who loves and knows, to the Silent, to the Merciful, to the Holy, to Him Who is All. To seek anything, to be concerned with anything but this is only madness and sickness, for this is the whole meaning and heart of all existence, and in this all the affairs of life, all the needs of the world and of [people], take on their right significance: all point to this one great return to the Source... Our destiny is to go on beyond everything, to leave everything, to press forward to the End and find in the End our Beginning, the ever-new Beginning that has no end.” (Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours, pp. 166-167)
"One thing above all is important: the ‘return to the Father.’ ...to be concerned with anything but this is only madness and sickness, for this is the whole meaning and heart of all existence.” - Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours
In the silence, I envisioned entering behind the veil into the heavenly presence of God, as I did so powerfully in Taizé this fall. Christ has torn the veil of separation between us, and invites us into the presence of the Father. At any time, we can go to God; we don't have to wait for God to come to us. As Jesus said in his last teachings to his disciples, he is in us, we are in him, we are both in the Father, and we all are one (John 17:6-26).
Enjoying a profound sense of oneness with God, I felt like God’s hands were cupping me with ample space to move freely, while carrying me closely. What a wonderful feeling! I was swimming in the weightlessness, yet supportiveness, of the ocean of God's love. I wanted to stay there forever! God, please help me take this sense of peace, wellbeing, and oneness with you into this day, this week, and this year as I return to you, my source and my peace.
"I was swimming in the weightlessness, yet supportiveness, of the ocean of God's love. I wanted to stay there forever!”
My biggest prayer for 2016 is to find a way to live, and share, more peace. If I can remain in God’s gentle hands, as the friend who sent me A Book of Hours does, I know it my prayers will be answered.
What are your hopes for 2016? Find a cosy chair, curl up, and meditate on your own dreams – or the Fulfiller of dreams – as you start this new year.
Resources:
- Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (Tip: Buy it on smile.amazon.com to donate 0.5% to your favourite charity)
- Advent Peace (where I shared my story from Taizé)
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