Paradigm Shift
What greeted me, smack dab in the face,
Was the noise:
Radio blaring in the living room,
Yelling in the dining room
by one who would later be introduced as Mama.
How can one think here?
L'Arche is not about thinking,
It is about being... loud, messy, demanding...and helpless.
It is also about
Loving
and respecting
and living together
as family.
The quiet contemplation that usually goes with
centering on God
is turned on its head.
It is the noise that says
something holy is going on here,
God seeking is alive and well here.
Noise: who would think it?
It is fierce
and pierces my heart like a silent prayer.
Holy Intrusion
We live our lives of
thoughts and concepts,
busyness and ambition,
In and beside a world of
the mentally challenged,
who are devoid of our preoccupations
and goals,
Though their world parallels our world and overlaps.
We called them "handicapped,"
only reluctantly admitting our own handicaps,
our inability to let go and realize a simple pleasure
and live in the moment.
Whenever we are able to drop our long term view,
when we are able to appreciate the moment,
to drift in response to a simple delight,
then something that ties us to an always distant future breaks free,
and we discover, even as we get caught up in future think again,
that we have changed, been changed
by the holy intrusion
of just being.
No comments:
Post a Comment