The holy seed is the stump of the felled tree.
Isaiah 6:13
We are born in pain
and blood and wailing.
Expelled from the world we know,
our warm salt cocoon,
to drown in cold air,
suddenly exposed outside the safe embracing walls.
We are born in shock, but in that shock, hope.
Do not expect easy answers:
Do not expect easy answers:
you still try to see with your eyes
and listen with your ears
and think you understand with your minds.
But I say to you,
until you know with your hearts
you know nothing -
you see, but blurred forms you do not comprehend.
We learn our life each moment, but
we grow in surges.
Always in pain and danger and risk
we learn our important lessons,
learning in our hearts,
burning onto our souls
the lessons of who we really are.
Do not expect easy answers:
Do not expect easy answers:
you still try to see with your eyes
and listen with your ears
and think you understand with your minds.
But I say to you,
until you know with your hearts
you know nothing -
you see only blurred forms you do not comprehend.
When we look on Jesus on his cross
our eyes see failure,
our ears hear jeering,
our logic sees the end of hope.
But only that ending
make possible our new beginning.
Do not expect easy answers:
Do not expect easy answers:
you still try to see with your eyes
and listen with your ears
and think you understand with your minds.
But I say to you,
until you know with your hearts
you know nothing -
you see blurred forms you do not comprehend.
We die through our pain
Suggestions for meditation
We die through our pain
and blood and wailing.
Expelled from the world we know,
suddenly exposed
outside the safe embracing walls.
We are reborn in shock, but in that shock, hope.
outside the safe embracing walls.
We are reborn in shock, but in that shock, hope.
The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.
Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.
Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!
If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try Isaiah 6:9-13
And God said to Isaiah, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;
until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.Even if a tenth part remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a turpentine tree, or an oak
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.”The holy seed is its stump.
Re-read the passage or the meditation - maybe read it slowly aloud.
Is there a word or phrase that jumps out to speak to you?
Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.
Is there a word or phrase that jumps out to speak to you?
Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.
Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word STRUGGLE.
You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention).
You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.
After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen.
Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).
You may need a countdown clock.
At the end thank God, and return to your day.
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