Praying With The Imagination: The octopus
Sealed door shuttered window
stifle our weeping and woe
Rabid air stays sweat and fear
Conductor’s wand rises
racing mind
pacing feet to crescendo
drop
A startled octopus we pause
suck a single breath
freeze
in motionless motion
Conductor blinks
the sound of sandals scuffing? a stock dove scratching?
stop
Chilled octopus is still
none break the silent spell until
Conductor’s wand rises
fans a fragrant cloud
replacing rabid air pausing pacing feet
converting menaced mind
peace
Sweet-sounding symphony
sighs
unseals the door of our hearts
unstifles the woe of our tongues
bends us to be and to bear
One light to enlighten our fear fraught gloom
Poem by Debra Asis, arose from prayer of imagination with the following scripture; Jesus appears to the disciples
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ John 20.19–21
“Praying With The Imagination” is found in An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney, a series of daily reflections from the Spiritual Wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Throughout the book we hear the voices of St. Ignatius as well as many great thinkers and writers, long gone and present day, each uniquely revealing the way of finding God in all things. And that is my intention; to find God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality in whatever presents itself to me each day in 2024.
Each day I read, reflect and write on the selection, hoping to articulate the ways in which I come to know God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality via personal experience, impelled by the leading of my inner life.
INVITATION
Would you like to join me? The book is accessible on Amazon. Let me know in the comments to this post and sign up to get an email whenever I post. I would love to read your reflections too, public or private messages welcome!
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Learn more about me at
https://www.debraasis.org
All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being,
Debra Asis
