May 2011, not as merry as hoped for

I've been away from blogging for a little bit.  There was a tragic accident in my neighborhood involving a young child (4 yo) and although we are not close friends with these neighbors, it was a sharp reminder as to the fine line between life and death.  May healing be swift to this family.

I'll be back in a few days...just wanted you to be aware that I was still here and was not "raptured" last Saturday.  FYI, the whole rapture interpretation of the "end times" is a relatively new heresy conjured up by some highly imaginative fellow named John Nelson Darby in the mid-19th century.

The Very Merry Month of May

Welcome to May!  The entire month of May in 2011 is spent in celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, aka Pascha or Easter. After completing a 7 week period of fasting, we now rejoice in 40 days of feasting until we celebrate Christ's Ascension on June 2nd of this year. 

In light of this, I would like to keep this month's posts joyful and refreshing.  I was going to post something about the recent demise of OBL, but that doesn't really work with "joyful and refreshing."  OBL's dead, and this time of year is about rejoicing in life for Christ is Risen!

My first post of the month comes from a book that I quoted from in the very beginnings of this blog called In Thy Presence written by Lev Gillet, a French Orthodox Christian monk.  The book can be purchased at SVS Press (link on the side bar).  From the back cover of the book: "These meditations reveal the nature of God's love in its depth, splendor and tenderness.  By opening our minds to the immense energy of God's presence in the universe, within and through human tribulation, they illuminate the most commonplace actions of daily life and identify our hunger and hope for communion with God, for a spiritual journey with a transcendent purpose and destination."

Today's reflection is entitled "Morning Dew" (p.30)

My child, I want thee to feel thyself in communion with the greatness of my universe, with its unformed aspiration, with its unformed thanksgiving.  But above all, in those moments when thou seekest to become one with limitless Love, I want thee to be very humble.

Thou hast seen the morning dew.  It forms trembling pearls on the blades of grass and on the leaves, before or shortly after the rising of the sun.

Dew is abundant where the earth is humid and exposed, when the weather is fine and perfectly calm.

Each small iridescent drop mirrors the colours of the rainbow.  No matter how minute, it reflects the basic colours of the universe.

My child, be thou this infinitesimal drop of dew coming to life on the humid earth of tenderness, as the sun rises in a loving heart.

Be this drop which for all its smallness, in its whole extent, reflects the beauty of the world.

And then be re-absorbed thyself into the light and heat of the sun.  Because it is the sun that gives dew-drops their being.

Here's a link to the other two posts from this book.