Kicking and Screaming into the Gift
-versus-
Hanging On To The Tail of the Kite!
+++
Breakfast, typical Catalan. I have learned to eat dry toast with a small ripe tomato’s juice squeezed and spread over it. Some drizzle olive oil. Add a slice of thin flavorful meat , like salami, a slice of cheese, usually swiss. Leave as an open sandwich, no bread on top. Café con leche, dark coffee with warm milk, or without. Some mix powdered ColaCao with warm milk. I always think of Coke Cola, but it isn’t. It is chocolate. On Sundays, Chocolate is served hot with the texture of a thick cooked warm pudding “poured” into a cup for drinking before it sets. I add a little milk or coffee to make it less a pudding.
+++
 |
| Sister Mary Anthony from India Missions |
Being the first day of Holy Week, Passion/Palm Sunday, there was a lot going on here. I wanted to be with the Mountain and was fortunate to find two hours to walk away from the pilgrims that flood the Basilica on weekends, especially for this Holy Week.
The morning began as usual with Angeles Bells at 5:45 and again at 6:00 for private prayer, 7:15 Bells and 7:25 Bells for Laudes, Morning Prayer. I join with the Monks in the Basilica for Laudes at 7:30. Of course the bells chime every hour also. There are Monastery Bells and there are City Bells. No one needs a watch here. Just pay attention to the bells and you know the time and the event by the sound of the Bells. The trick is to learn what the different number of gongs and combinations of bells mean.
 |
| Abbot Blessing Palms |
8:30 was breakfast. Mass began early, 10:30 instead of 11:00 because of the Blessing and Procession of Palms from the plaza in front of the Basilica entrance. I watched from the window of my Monastic room as the Plaza was prepared with Palms and staging area set up.
This ritual commemorates the journey of Jesus of Nazareth entering the last week of his life leading into Holy Week. Holy Week is the height of Christian Holy Days culminating with Easter Sunday. Easter is a celebration of new life and ever new possibilities as known through the Cosmic cycle of life, death and new life.
 |
| Crowd Processing with Palms into Basilica |
This is the reason why I have pilgrimed to the Mountain at this time. The monks invited me to come, to participate with their Spiritual Community in an immersion experience of silence and contemplation during this time of Cosmic awareness. All of Creation participates in this grand life cycle: life, death, new life. Awareness of my life, my deaths - daily and final- and my Resurrected/New Life. Hopefully, I die to some part of me every day to make way and room for the Newness that is mine to hold.
Aspects of what I am living, feel very strange to me. It is the first time since 1970’s that I am not leading some or ALL of the rituals myself as Spiritual Leader or Pastor of a Congregation. It is a lesson in letting go and receiving.
“Down, EGO. Relax. You are being cared for in a new way.”
The monks are good to me. Accepting my presence and welcoming my help in small tasks as these present themselves. Allowing me to move from guest to family status.
The BELLS ARE TOLLING, Mass begins in 15 minutes. Today, I forego attending.
The usher who serves here daily, has stopped poking my shoulder to tell me NO PHOTO when he sees my Iphone. I have shown him how I use my iPhone for English translation of the prayers and Mass. He indicated to me yesterday as I entered the Basilica to attend Sunday Mass, roped off seats in the back are for the tourists. He pointed to the front section, “You go sit in the front." Again, I am experiencing the family energy of being recognized as a person who is part of the Mountain, no longer a tourist or guest.
There are times when I am permitted the deep trust of listening to the joy or the pain of someone I meet here. People do not have to speak the same tongue to know a compassionate heart.
There are many different mountains that we climb in a lifetime. Some hearts are full of Mountains to be climbed, endured. Other hearts experience the peace of knowing each Mountain as blessing and opportunity. For me, each Mountain I have been gifted, has been a Wisdom maker. Sometimes it has taken me years to recognize a particular ‘Mountain gift.’ Now, as I am older, Elder, I accept the gifts more quickly. I am releasing my stubborn edge. That means, I no longer go kicking and screaming into the ‘gift’ because I have learned to recognize the presence of Spirit leading. Relief!
My lifetime mantra, one of them:
There is only ONE requirement:
HANG ON TO THE TAIL OF THE KITE!
If the Kite soars, then I soar.
If the Kite dips and dives, I dip and dive.
If the Kite crashes, I crash.
DON'T LET GO!
It is the Breath of Spirit, the Spirit Wind that flies the Kite.
Spirit will raise it up again.
My only requirement in this lifetime is to hold on to the tail of the Kite!
Who is flying the Kite, you ask?
I ponder that question and find different understandings.
In this moment, it is a collaboration.
Divine Presence in me and around me holds the string if I awake to that possibility.
Trinity: Spirit Breath/Wind, Divine Permeating Presence, Collaborative Inner Guidance
Thinking about today’s Trinity I recognize that it is
Divine holding Incarnation Mine
Do you know Trinity?
What is it for you?
Sometimes I hold different understandings.
How do you do your life?
Are you bound by rules of cultural norms?
Are you free to fly? a combination of the two? other?
What questions are stirring in your heart?
+++
It is a cool bright morning.
The outdoors and the mountain outside my window call to me.
+++
 |
| Ruins of St Ann Hermitage |
Yesterday, I hiked many many many steps up to the Hermitage ruins of Sant Ann. See photos. I walked one hour straight up and 30 minutes to return down. I am grateful for the walking stick Father Sergi has provided for my stay. I am treated with utmost respect on the mountain when other hikers (less than half, a third, a quarter? my age) see my “walking stick” that looks like an infirmary cane! I wonder if they are thinking, “What is that old buzzard doing way up here on the Mountain?” Inside, I chuckle, mostly at myself. “What in the world am I doing way up here?”
Do you ever wonder,
“What am I doing up here?”
If not, why not?
+++++++++++++
No comments:
Post a Comment