Prayer
Seeds
June 3, 2020 | Reflections from Sr Antonia
Sitting in the prayer room this morning I suddenly became aware that the world we live in is bringing forth fruit in a remarkable way. It reminded me of the words from the Psalm 67:
“The earth has yielded its fruit
For God, our God, has blessed us
May God still give us His blessing
Till the ends of the earth revere Him”.
Psalm 66:7
Mother earth is bringing forth life as humankind tills the soil through desperation and fear. I realised this as I gazed out the windows of the prayer yurt, watching the hills in the distance. An image came to me of the whole earth. As I watched it started to turn green, beginning at the bottom (South) and moving slowly up the top (North), a bit like sea water creeping up the dry sand at high tide. It was a slow silent movement that nothing could intercept or interrupt. It was beautiful.
Seeds are almost impossible to buy at the moment because many of us are so frightened about food and finances drying up that we are starting a veggie garden. It seems to me as though this global crisis is actually addressing another global crisis by forcing us to plant; to rejuvenate the earth we have so desecrated. Yes the earth is bringing forth fruit and it is marvellous to behold.
Seeds, so many seeds. Jesus talked about seeds too didn’t he. And he also planted them, seeds of hope, of faith, of love.
I have been praying with the Gospel of Mary Magdalen and in my prayer this morning seeds of a different guise were revealed.
“Peace be with you – may peace arise and be fulfilled within you.”
Gospel of Mary Magdalen. 8: 13-14
In his commentary on the gospel of Mary Magdalen Jean-Yves Leloup says: “The peace the Teacher (Jesus) offers us is a seed. We are not yet peace for, peace is a process of becoming – a work that we allow to be accomplished within us”. He goes on to recount an ancient story found in many oral traditions: You might be familiar with it.
“A woman was looking for her jewellery in the town square. The other villagers wished her well, and were trying to help her find this treasure in the area in and around the village square. They had been searching fruitlessly for some time, when someone asked her
“But exactly where did you lose this treasure”?
“I lost it in my home” the woman answered.
“But are you crazy? If you lost it in your home, why are you having us help you search out here in the square?”
“And you my friend,” she replied, “is this not what you are always doing, searching for your treasure in the streets, in the square, when it is really in your own home that you lost what you most want? Don’t you go everywhere in a vain search for peace and happiness, your greatest treasure, which you have lost in your own home? In your own heart – that is where you must search. It is there that your treasure has always been waiting to be found”.
Circumstances have forced us literally into our own homes where, hopefully, we can give ourselves to tending, not only to the vege patches in our backyards, marvellous and all as that is, but to also that patch deep within us where God has already planted a seed; a seed which is waiting to be tended. What would this tending look like?
It would need to begin with silence of course. Is there space in your life right now for that? There is a PRESENCE that is there to be discovered in the core of our being. The world will never know true peace until every single person on the planet has the courage to venture even into the darkest rooms of our own homes (hearts), and encounter that presence.
“Go to him” says Mary Magdalen, “for those who seek him find him.”
Peace is a presence, a person that dwells within. This is the seed most in need of tending.