A Hymn Fills the World
September 28, 2007 · by Christine
Thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s Poetry Party. I am deeply grateful for all of your beautiful and thoughtful words. Make sure to click over and read the most recent contributions (scroll to the bottom of the post). I sent out a bunch of emails this morning requesting your mailing addresses if you’d like a prayer card sent to you with the dying sunflower image on one side and your poem on the reverse. If for some reason my email does not make it to you, then drop me a note at Christine AT AbbeyoftheArts DOT com. I’ll mail those out on Monday. If your poem was especially long you may get one of my larger sized prayer cards.
Look for the next Invitation to Poetry on Monday, October 8!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pablo Neruda seems to be speaking to me this week:
When you appear
all the rivers sound
in my body, bells
shake the sky,
and a hymn fills the world.
from “The Queen” by Pablo Neruda
Each morning when I awoke at the beach cottage this week, I would step out onto the deck to walk into the day, and looked out over the water blanketed in fog. I could hear a chorus of voices — herons, eagles, geese, gulls, and crows — all sang in a symphony of creation. The ocean contained within my body rose in a swell of delight.
I am re-reading David Steindl-Rast’s wonderful little book, Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey through the Hours of the Day
May your weekend find you filled with awareness of the beauty of each moment, may a hymn of beauty fill your world with sacred music.
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
**to order a copy of Praying With the Elements click here**
September 28th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
You know, I have tried to write all week on this but I am writerishly constipated (must be the colon cleanse - I also think it’s because it’s Spring here in Australia and launching into a season of dying has constituted my life for the past three months - this winter has been terribly hard for me - so I just couldn’t go there. But I look forward to next week!!!
September 28th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I’ve always like the idea of praying at different times of the day. I notice too the different quality of times during a simple day, not just times of prayer–liturgy of life. I enjoyed the poems at your last Poetry Party and perhaps I’ll join in the next time. I wasn’t sure what the timetable was for turning in a poem. Blessings on your hermitage by the sea!
September 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Sue, sorry about the block and my Northern hemisphere bias here.
I promise the next one won’t be autumn-centered.
Archie, I like that phrase “liturgy of life” — I’ve reflected on that idea a lot. You are welcome to still turn in a poem for the party, I just wanted to have a deadline for sending out the prayer cards so I wasn’t making them for days. So send one in if you have one, otherwise the next one will be in a week from Monday!
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
If you love Neruda, please check out www.redpoppy.net to see and support some of the important work that’s being done to further Neruda’s legacy through film and outreach.