In August 2013, I went on a mixed-media painting and prayer retreat organised by CARM, the Creative Arts Retreat Movement (link at end). It was marvellous to have the time to reacquaint myself with acrylics, enjoy the evening-prayer-to-after-breakfast times of silence and have unhurried time for reflection: it was restorative and refreshing. One of the pieces of work I produced entitled 'Gaseous Cosmic Threads' is shown here
Threads of gas, far, far, far more complex than these weave their way through the universe. The image and poem provide an opportunity to reflect on the nature of a God whose realm is The Cosmos, and on our individuality as His beloved child.
LITTLE CANTICLE 128
You allow my prayer to span the vastness of Creation: to be heard above
the roar of the rolling spheres.
Amidst the noises of a billion, billion stars and planets, You hear my
complaints
No crisis of creation bars my supplication nor the supplications of a
million fellow intercessors.
You are constantly available, listening to the prayers of Your people:
desiring for them all that is godly, wholesome and true.
You, the Eternal Spirit, The Three in One God, are infinitely watchful
for me, ready to hear me whenever I call
Joyful when I worship and incomprehensibly, at the same time, sharing
sadness that precipitates others
into fervent prayer: there is no end to the supplications you can receive, hear,
and act upon in an instant.
You dispense consolation to one, courage to another, understanding to
yet another, and a myriad of gifts in the same moment, all out of Your great
love.
May I submit to that love, allow myself to be overwhelmed by it and be
a cause of it enveloping others; that they too may understand a little of this
mighty, Godly, enfolding.
- Other Little Canticles (similar format) can be found HERE
- The Creative Arts Retreat Movement (UK) can be found here
- If you are attracted by the idea of a gentle holiday/retreat in the near future in Umbria, you might like to look at the website of friends of ours who run a small retreat house near Assisi and Perugia. Topics are varied and shown on the website here
For an index of all poems on this blog with an astronomy/ cosmology theme Click here
