I tired to sleep the other night but couldn;t and for the most wonderful reason. I found myself praying suddenly and intensely right out of the blue as though a thousand angels were singing in my heart. So much so I felt my heart would burst. This surpised and pleased me so much. Why? Well I have found in my own Spiritual Life down the years is that prayer runs like a deep river. As in the saying, 'Still rivers run deep'. That prayer after some time, 'Dissapears.' That it is so constant a thing like the beating of a heart or the air we breath that we no longer are even aware of it. Many aspects of the Spiritual Life are so like this. Most of all the Eucharist. 'Godhead here in hiding'. Just a tiny slip of bread. The mass itself perhaps half an hour of the whole day. Going in and out without even speaking to anyone. Sometimes thoughts distracted . Yet it is heaven come to Earth. Yet the river runs so deep it can seem like nothing has happened. Or the Word of God. At a given time and place the Word suddenly becomes alive and active. We look at the stars and the words of Psalm spring to our minds. We are sad or in danger and words from scripture of consolation warm us. Or like Devotion to the Blessed Virgin whose one aim is to lead us to the Feet of Her Son. 'I must decrease that He may increase'. Sometimes walking in the monutains among the rocks I come across a river like this. At the start or its journey it is just a tiny stream. Sometimes it goes in again among the rocks. Sometimes it appears again on the surface, stronger and with great force. A surprise among the rocks. It even at one point may burst forth like a mighty waterfall. But it is always there though we may sometimes never see it. God, often so hidden , thank you for letting me see your face from time to time, thank for letting me see the the Deep River of prayer that has carved itself in the rocks of my hard heart.
Exquisitely beautiful Padraig. And true. God's grace and His Livi ng Water carving the rocks of our hard hearts! This a thought for meditation. You have some of that Irish gift for poetry in your soul.
