A spring of wonder

 By Jeannette Doran

 

 A spring of wonder

 

 

    April came with ice and snow

 

    Treasured moments of solitude

 

     Long awaited in a Minnesota

    

     Hermitage clothed in frost and white

 

      One last snow

    

      Deer searching for food

 

      By May seeds planted in soft soil

    

      Rain soaked fields

 

      Drenching downpour

 

      Leaves sparkle with showers 

   

      Behold the loveliness even

 

     In the midst of storm winds

 

     Puddles abound yet

 

     Red Poppies open as

 

    Sun shines on

 

    Velvet green grass

 

    Beauty surrounds us

 

 

   How awesome is our God

 

 

Advent Hope Christmas Joy

By Jeannette Doran


Advent calls for great stillness in preparation for the coming of Jesus. It is a time of longing and expectancy as we await the coming of Jesus on Christmas. We prepare for the birth of Jesus in our hearts and our world as we pray the scripture, nourishing our souls in praying with the prophets of long ago. Isaiah will fill our hearts with hope and joyous expectation when we read of a time of peace when the lion will lie down with the lamb and the lovely verse that speaks of how someday we will live where “none will harm or destroy another on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.” Isaiah 11 v.9

As we reflect on the infant Jesus, God’s love is made visible we are filled with joy. In the turmoil of our world today when we learn to live in God’s presence our journey becomes softer. As we carry the presence of God in Jesus into the coming year the joy of Bethlehem and Christmas will warm our hearts over the winter. May the joy of this holy times fill our hearts this Christmas and always.

Fulfillment

By Jeannette Doran

Fall is a time of fulfillment, joy and gratitude. We see the fruit of our labors and rejoice with thanksgiving. Over the past year we have worked towards the fulfillment of our desires. We have worked the land with firm hope for the abundant harvest. We begin to see the beauty of the countryside rich with vivid color. We feel the cool breeze; delight in the golden fields, orange sunsets, the wheat and corn waving in the wind. We remember our toil of the past year, our times of furrowing the fields and sowing the seeds. We are grateful for having given time to pruning, weeding and watering during the summer times of rapid growth. As fall comes we gather the harvest and store for the months ahead. Carefully we collect the seeds for next year’s planting. We prune and clear the land for winter’s long sleep. Seeing the fulfillment and fruit of our toils we gather together in thanksgiving giving joyful thanks to God and one another.

Our preparation for autumn’s fruit is a reflection in our spiritual lives. We work our inner furrowing in the land of our souls and we carve out spaces of growth towards a deeper intimacy with our God. All phases of growth are necessary. The desert periods bring rest, deep silence and darkness. These times ready the land of the earth and our souls for the furrowing of the fields and the seed sowing. In the spiritual realm we till the barren soil of our souls through vocal prayer, spiritual reading and reflection and periods of silent prayer. We spend time sitting still waiting for God’s work in the darkness and silence. All of these works eventually bring about the fulfillment of our desires. It may take a lifetime but we see as time deals gently with us so does our Beloved richly reward us. In our soul’s growth our inner being needs furrowing; we want to allow the Spirit to till the soil of our souls, to prepare spaces for seed sowing. We plow as we clear our minds of negative or fearful thought and begin to plant the tiny seeds of faith, compassion, hope and joy. These are watered with God’s grace sprinkled throughout the moments of our days. These seeds will grow and blossom as we nurture them. Our Carmelite rule invites us to meditate day and night on the Word of God and encourages us that a holy thought will guard us from all harm. We grow in faith as we focus on the truths of our faith such as the reality that the Creator of our universe dwells in the center of our being. Deep within our very being our God finds a home, a dwelling place. What a profound truth of our faith! Reflecting on this truth of our faith will fill one with hope and our hope grows as we experience God’s presence in our daily lives. Our hope is fulfilled and this creates a reciprocal love or a loving relationship with our Creator who so longs for our love in return. May we all know the rich abundance of autumn’s harvest and may this overflow into our spiritual growth and fulfillment.

Abundance

By Jeannette Doran

In summer we rejoice in the abundance.

We take time to enjoy all that our God has so graciously

given in the fruit of our labors. As our hearts are filled we

share out of plenty. Gifting others with our overflow of

tomatoes, cucumbers and other garden fruit.

We give from our spiritual bounty as well our material

profusion. How true it is that as we give to others we always

seem to be left with a sufficient amount. We find that not

only are our needs fulfilled but our desires are often satisfied

as well. With the virtue of gift giving the reality becomes

that the more we give the more we actually do

receive. As we learn to trust more and not save for the

future want God will provide for all our needs and even our

desires. May we each grow closer to God as we learn to trust

abundantly in God’s loving generosity.

Autumn's Abundance

By Jeannette Doran

 While every season has its own unique beauty, this time of year

 overwhelms one with splendor. Surrounded by fall's harvest of rich

 color, the taste of pumpkin pie and fresh apples, the gentle warmth of

 wind rustling the orange and red leaves, our lives are enriched with

 the fruit of the seed.

 In beholding the beauty of the tiny seed brought to fruition, we are invited to look at its journey.

Perhaps as tulip and daffodil bulbs are fall-planted in the rich soil, soon to bear the depth of winter's cold, or, as the spring seeds are folded into the earth after the last spring frost awaiting their growth, we develop a longing for God. There is a period of darkness amidst cold dampness before the

 tiny green sprout emerges one morning. This is like our own lives.

 Living in Iowa close to corn fields, this reality is clarified.

 Since this year's floods delayed the spring planting for many farmers,

 once the furrowed fields were neatly sown in long rows, we watched and

 waited for the first sign of green. This did come about after more

 periods of threatening rain storms, hot, humid days and warm sunlight.

 While the corn this year was not as "high as the sky on the fourth of

 July," still a few weeks later we watched vast fields sway in the wind

 like waves of the ocean. Now the tall stalks have turned rusty beige,

 a drying out time before the harvest begins. Some years the farmer

 works day and night to beat the coming frost.

 Our garden has nurtured us these last two months with juicy

 tomatoes, green beans, butternut squash and a wealth of broccoli that

 came from a packet of little seeds. This year, a profusion of colorful

 flowers graced our land; it seemed every corner one turned, we

 delighted in a petite blue cornflower or a bright red rose. Such is

 the beauty of creation. We need only to open our eyes to behold God's

 gifts everyday.

 As we remember the seed's journey, we are reminded of our soul's

 path to deeper delights. We believe in the indwelling of the Blessed

 Trinity. Through God's gifts of gentle awareness of this holy presence

 we desire more. We experience long periods of darkness and emptiness.

 Gradually, we find deep in our being a tiny light and warmth that

 begins to emerge after much waiting. As the psalmist teaches, the Lord

 delights in our waiting in love. Our hunger for God grows in the

 dark, and we come to understand that, after long spaces of solitude

 with quiet prayer, we will come to delight in God's holy presence and

 will learn to carry this with us into our daily lives. As the earthly

 seed comes to fruition in the soil's depth, so our spiritual growth is

 nurtured in the night. St. John of the Cross writes to us of our

 spiritual fruition, with this attentive waiting, in this stanza of his poem, The Dark Night:

                          

"O guiding night!

O night more lovely than the dawn!

O night that has united

The Lover with His beloved,

Transforming the beloved in her Lover."

The Longing Heart

By Sr. Jeannette Doran, OCD

 
The human heart hungers for God. And our hearts are truly restless until they rest in God. With fear that our needs will not be met, we search in empty places for what will satisfy us. This continues the cycle of trying to fill ourselves with fruit from bare branches. One will not find lasting happiness. The longing in our hearts can only be filled with God.

John of the Cross writes that “the center of our soul is God”. In taking moments of quiet to enter into our inner depths and seek God, peace will penetrate our being.

Yet we say in our chaotic world how is it possible to find a real silence? The noise of news blares from all corners of our immediate world. This can draw us so quickly into the almost daily reports of roadside bombs in Afghanistan, and gun violence in families and cities across our country. How can one find this quiet space?

Personally, I've begun to realize interior peace is attainable, even if world wars exist. St. John of the Cross writes in the third book of The Ascent of Mount Carmel that peace and tranquility are such blessings that even if the whole world were to come to an end this should not disturb our peace. Victor Frankl wrote of his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. He reflected that when one focused on some gift of beauty each day such as the sight of the rosy hue of mornings light, one could survive and find meaning in life. Many who lived severe atrocities survived because they learned to do just this. We learn that even in seemingly unbearable circumstances we can cry out to God in the center of our soul.

It does take practice not to allow oneself to be overwhelmed in darkness but this can be done in becoming aware of the beauty in our lives. Awareness comes when we take time to touch the velvet rose petals and grasp the lovely lilies, to gaze at the gentle sky-blue pinks of dawn and the vibrant red-orange hues at sunset. It is realized when we understand why the deer longs for refreshing water surrounding us each day. The more we taste and see what beauty envelopes us we praise God for these gifts surrounding us each day. Above all when we fill our minds and hearts with holy thoughts, our serenity will be guarded and moment by moment we can hold on to a lasting joy. It is possible for the longing in our hearts for God to be satisfied.