Christmas

CHRISTMAS EVE VESPERS

Wintry day – low heavy

clouds pour rain down on the city –

winds are sharp at times –

luckily – rain washes away snow - sloppy ice –

heaviness hangs over all.

I feel it but it is not the whole story –

tomorrow is Someone’s birthday –

light shines in the night.

Darkness touches our world –

Wall Street collapse – scandals – unemployment

endless wars - more to come.

Eagerly, I look for the light –

Christmas vespers – boys’ and men’s choirs –

powerful organ – incense –

song - music wash over me.

I feel limp – I grasp out for

 hope the birthday brings.

My heart beats – chest is tight –

tears fill my eyes –

tears that await hope to dry them.

Music - voices give me a glimpse of

another world – Jesus is born –

not to leave us alone –

despite it all, warm hands embrace us.

Robert Trabold

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COMING OF CHRISTMAS

Robert Trabold

            As the year comes to a close in a short time, we come to celebrate the lovely feast of Christmas. It is a time of much activity with people and society but it should also be time of prayer and reflection so that we can savor and take fruit from the advent of Jesus on earth.  This reflection on the meaning of Christmas is important for us because we feel down with all the problems in our contemporary world and country. Jesus came to bring peace but when we look around us, we see too many wars that never seem to end. Politicians before the election say that they want to stop the fighting but when they get into office, there is little action taken to bring peace and end the conflicts.  We are also worried by the many economic problems that plague our country, the recession, unemployment, foreclosures, inordinate power of banks and large corporations on the policies of our land, etc.  So all of these things lay on us and we wonder where all of this is to go and we do not see things getting better in the near future. 

            So in face of all this darkness, it is important for us to reflect on the coming of Christmas and what it means to us and our world. Those of us in the contemplative prayer movements should be faithful to our daily contemplation and see what the divine will reveal to us in the coming weeks.  We live in the flux of our daily life on earth with its many activities and obligations.  These can be very demanding and take much of our attention.  But with our discipline of silence where we take 20 minutes twice daily to meditate in silence, we put ourselves into contact with the spiritual world which is our strength and orientates us to live in the world. In our silent prayer, we calm down and repeat the mantra.  In the quiet and apparent nothingness, we have an encounter with the divine who is the ground of our being. It is also a meeting of love where the Lord calls us to respond faithfully to his invitation and wanting our friendship. God does not want to abandon us in the world with its many problems and confusion but calls us to a relationship which is like a rudder on a ship. The Lord wants to guide us in a friendship which will get us through life despite all of the difficulties.

            In the Christmas season, we have a special revelation of the divine entering our life and the world. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Palestine many years ago and still is present in our lives and the world. He was a good man who preached and healed people in the villages and towns of his time. He died an unjust death but continues to be present and alive in the world and our lives as the Risen Lord. In the Christmas story, we see all the details of his birth and the reaction of the shepherds and the three kings to his coming. It is an amazing story of the divine manifesting its presence in the world and it touches us to this very day. The beautiful story of Christmas helps us in our meditation because we understand more deeply whom are we meeting in the silence of our contemplative prayer.

            In the silence of our meditation, we encounter a presence who calls us and who is infinite love.  God does not want to abandon us to the comings and goings of a human life and our relationship with the divine in an anchor of our life and opens up for us new vistas of living.  God is love and offers this to all men and women.  Our life is only complete when we feel that some one loves us on earth and will walk with us during the years.  If we are faithful to our daily meditation, we will grow in the awareness of how the divine loves us and asks us to respond. This relationship then is the foundation of our life as no other human being or object can be. People and events of our years of earth come and go but the Lord is always there waiting for us to meet him on our silent meditation. We have a lover who chases us in the world and wants to be close to us. The divine offers us a faithful love that will never fail and in a way that no other human person can do for us.

            This vision of such an overflowing divine love for us is what becomes very manifest in the beautiful Christmas season.  Jesus, the Savior, becomes visible and in him, we see that love of God coming out of the darkness and into the light of the world. In Jesus, we can touch and see the spiritual life that is offered to us.  This manifestation now of his presence and advent should give us hope as we close this year and look forward to the new one.  We feel every day the problems and tensions of our contemporary world and country. Many times, we feel discouraged and do not know where it will all go. Endless wars, unemployment, foreclosures, corruption and greed in our government, banks and corporations, etc, overwhelm us.  Where do we turn? We have to turn to the Jesus who meets us each day in our daily meditation and who loves us and our world. He is the source of hope. He will not forget us and comes each year in the Christmas season. Let us not lose the opportunity to meet him in this lovely time.

           

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Contemplative Life Style

EVENING HUSH

Gentle summer air – comfortable

not hot – colors tone down –

sunshine has gone – I hear

the final chirps of the birds in the trees.

Like a cat walking on freshly cut grass –

stillness descends on all –

no wind to disturb the calm.

It was a long day – too many chores –

aching feet – e-mails – telephone calls

decisions to be made.

Welcome relief to sit in the quiet!

I let it roll over my whole body –

deep sedative –

calm takes me over – even my

feet do not ache so much.

I look forward to this hour –

time for a visit.

Garden’s hush opens up

an abyss at my center – still point.

Someone touches me – mystery – otherness.

No words are spoken – silence

is the language of God –

silence - calm – hushed garden –

usher me into a presence –

presence of my Beloved.

Let me rest in this quiet –

visit – gift – that puts a beautiful

end to a hectic day.

Someone is with me – that is all that matters!

Robert Trabold

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CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE STYLE

Robert Trabold

           

            Since I am in now a stage of semi-retirement, space has opened up for me to build a more contemplative dimension into my life. I have had this element for many years becoming pronounced in my college years. Now however, with my schedule opening up and my time not so constricted by a work routine, I have attempted to build time and activities to allow me to enter more deeply into contemplative prayer. This new freedom has allowed me to meditate twice a day for twenty minutes each time. I have created a small corner of the house with a statue and pictures which give me a sense of peace to enter into a spirit of prayer. I play soft mystical music in the background helping me calm down. I have a large garden connected with my house and in the warm season, I meditate there. The quiet and beauty of the flowers help me focus on the presence of God within me. Luckily, I live not far away from the seashore at Jones Beach and I go there once or twice a week immersing myself in the silence and beauty of the ocean side allowing me to experience the presence of God. Important also is spiritual reading.  I try to keep my eyes open for good books on spirituality and contemplative prayer helping me understand better the dynamics of prayer and the intimacy that God calls me to and motivating me to be faithful with the spiritual routine despite the periods of dryness that inevitably come.

            I am active in the Centering Prayer Movement and the John Main Meditation Movement giving me opportunities to pray with others in group sessions and share with them. This is very encouraging because prayer has times of dryness and we wonder where we are going – back or forward. Talking with these movement people allows me to discuss contemplative spirituality and this sharing is an enriching experience. It deepens my understanding of the spiritual journey we are on. I write contemplative poetry and articles on spirituality. I have done extensive reading in mystical prayer and the writing of articles on this topic allows me to share this knowledge with the people who read the spiritual magazines and newsletters that print my material. The writing of contemplative poetry has helped me deepen my grasp of the prayer experience. Since much of my poetry is deals with the experience of the presence of the divine within me and in my encounter with it in nature, such as the garden and the seashore, the process of writing the poems helps me grasp better the encounter that I had with God. I try to put into words, images, symbols, etc, the closeness and intimacy I felt in prayer.

            Our contemplative prayer life should also encourage us to express itself in service to the people around us. For a good deal of my life, I have been a social activist participating in various social movements. I live in New York City and am the head of a local neighborhood organization which I founded to control overdevelopment and so keep the quality of life we would like to have. For many years, I have been active in various peace movements working to resolve and end wars around the globe and particularly right now in the Middle East. I go regularly to meetings at the Catholic Worker Movement in Manhattan discussing social issues and encouraging us all to be active in these. Meetings at the Catholic Worker are supportive because our contemporary world has many social and economic problems and at times, one feels like giving up. The whole world looks hopeless. At this point, I feel my contemplative prayer is very helpful; I get the strength and commitment to continue to be of service to the world and people in these social movements. God gives us the strength not to give up and to work for the greater justice and peace that Jesus promises to give us.

            Another dimension of my contemplative apostolate is the reading of my poetry at various events where poets are invited to present their writings. At times, I feel self conscious because not many people write and read contemplative poetry to a secular audience. I have found to my surprise that people do respond positively to my writing and perhaps encouraging them to grow in their quest for God. One good sign is that the literary journals of these local groups publish my poetry. Hopefully then, the people who read these journals will be touched by my writings.

            In conclusion, we contemplatives are on an inward journey to encounter God at our center and still point. I have tried to develop a discipline of silence in my life so as to find space for and grow in contemplative prayer. I am hopeful that it will give me the strength and perseverance to continue to be active in various social movements giving our world more justice and peace.

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Watchman in the Night

ENDLESS LONGING

Violent day – sharp ocean winds

blow all around me – shaking up

the world.

Not too cold – end of March –

I hear spring tip toeing in.

Despite the wind, sun is strong –

even warm –

getting closer to us.

Gentle warmth comforts my body.

I whisper:

“For you alone, my soul waits in silence.”

Words ring deep within me –

word ‘waits’ shoots an arrow

through my heart –

deep pain - fires of desire.

Violence of the seashore – savage beauty –

give me a taste – touch of my Beloved –

arouse pains of desire.

I cannot run to grasp my Beloved –

not possible for my life on earth.

I have to be content with fleeting tastes –

soft touches.

Violent seashore echoes like wild drumbeats –

going deep – vibrating through my

whole body.

Let them touch me deeply –

full embrace – another day – time!

Robert Trabold

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                                                       WATCHMEN IN THE NIGHT:

                                                       OUR CONTEMPLATIVE PATH

“My soul longs for the Lord more than

the watchman waits for the dawn.”

                    Ps. 129

Robert Trabold

            . In the Old Testament, the psalmist mentions that his soul yearns for the Lord more than the watchman waiting for the dawn. Watchmen, the security guards of the ancient cities, made their rounds in the night and were happy when the dawn came to end their work. On examining the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, we note that many important things happened at night.  The shepherds were tending their flocks and the angels announced to them the birth of a savior. Then, a choir of angels appeared and sang praises to the newborn. The shepherds went to the town of Bethlehem to visit the family with the child. The Magi, also, watched the stars in the night and then followed the special one in the darkness until it led them to Bethlehem

            I have been attracted by the phrase “watchmen in the night” as capturing the meaning of the contemplative path God calls us to. It points to the mystery of this encounter since God is transcendent and an ineffable presence in our life. Our contemplative life is a response to this meeting. As John of the Cross mentions, in the dark night, God has us lose many attractions we have for our human activities, such as work, recreation, art, etc, and we are drawn to a peaceful resting in the divine presence. It is not something that we have control over but gently touches us to want to be with the divine. This presence is different from others because we sense it at our deepest core – at our center. For this reason, there is no one so close to us as God. On the other hand, in other relationships such as friendship or marriage, the other person is always opposite to us.

            For all the above, contemplatives are called to grow in their inward journey and be sign to others who are also called to discover this way of interiority.  The mystics that are popular in history are ones often who have left behind writings and exemplary lives showing us the way to God.  John of the Cross’ beautiful poetry and the autobiographical and spiritual writings of Theresa of Avila are examples. By reading these works, we can get an insight into their interior life helping us on our path.

            Contemplatives living out their inward journey are a sign and ask a question to the world around them. Humans are busy with their life of work, family, education, etc. and the contemplative path being one of silence and interiority presents another dimension of life. It raises the issue of the ultimate meaning of our journey on earth with its contingency and temporality. The contemplative path points to a presence within us which is the ground of our being and the goal of our life on earth. We can be so busy in life with every day affairs that we lose sight of this or never discover it. It takes a reorientation of our life to become aware of this presence and make those changes so that we can grow in a relationship with it. God is not only present within us but also is active in the world and in the lives of all people. In beginning our journey inward, we will grow in sensitivity to the divine actions in the world. We are social animals living in societies with other people and need to realize how God is active in these groups making them more just and peaceful.

            Contemplatives are examples of ‘watchmen in the night’ signaling others to join them in this interior journey. As Psalm 129 says, “My soul longs for God more than the watchman waits for the dawn.” It is a difficult journey demanding changes within ourselves so that we can be ready to meet the absolute; we humans are selfish and proud and these are obstacles to growth in union with the Transcendent. In the contemplative path, God takes the initiative to meet and touch us and we have to sit in silence and listen and wait to see how the divine reveals itself and woos us into a mutual love.  We are not in control but the Lord will do it in his own way and time.

            As I mentioned in the title, contemplatives are ‘watchmen in the night.’ They live in silence and a presence hopefully helping others to be aware of a light and love within themselves. This presence of God who is transcendent but also so close to us as no one else is a mystery and so our relationship with the Absolute is in the night. As long as we live on earth, we will not possess our Beloved but only touch and taste the divine. For this reason, John of the Cross in his beautiful poem ‘In the Dark Night’ has to two lovers meeting each other in the night full of mystery and desire.

In a dark night,

burning with fires of love!

“I will seduce my love, lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.”

                                                                          Hosea, 2, 16.

Summer Garden

SUMMER  GARDEN

Tall – proud – pink phlox

stand in glory.  Sunshine baths them –

they enjoy it.  Pink color – so soft!

They do not mind bumble bees

touching – kissing their petals – looking for sweet pollen.

Four o’clocks are still in siesta –

will bloom later in the afternoon.

Summer garden calms me – I sit in

its peace.  So different from the

world I live in . Grim!

I feel the load – my shoulders –

heavy – tired.  So many wars drag

on – new ones beginning. My country –

bankrupt but soldiers – planes – bombs –

USA has them all over – countless

dead  - women – children.

I see young men angry – looking for work.

Men – women over 50 losing their jobs – where

will they find another? Clouds

from my world hang over me –

they are damp – dark. Let me not

give up hope.  Like the garden that

goes through its winter – comes alive in

the springtime – let me take courage –

hoping – my world will also have its spring!

Robert Trabold

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Contemplation in the Summer Time

Robert Trabold

            The different times of the year and seasons have an impact on our meditation. We are affected by sunshine, weather, garden with its flowers, seashore, mountains, etc.  Summer also is a time for vacation where we can take a break from our hectic lifestyle in the city. I am lucky and live in a house with a garden and it is big enough that there are quiet corners where I can sit and not be noticed. Neighbors are working during the day which adds to the quiet. Sitting in my chair, I can feel the silence of nature and let the beauty of the flowers and plants touch me. I am fortunate also that I live close to the seashore – the Atlantic Ocean. Jones Beach is only thirty minutes away from my house.  Walking on the seashore, watching and listening to the sounds of the waves and feeling the wide blue sky has a calming effect on me and helps me enter into contemplation. Summer time is also a time where I enjoy taking a trip into the mountains. I have been hiking and back packing all my life and my camping experience takes me to the high peak region of the Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid, New York where I am able to encounter God in the beauty and silence of the mountains.

            These occasions of silence and quiet of the various seasons and places of the natural world can be of great help to us to reach the goal of contemplation - resting in God’s presence. Contemplation is the act where we encounter the divine presence at our center and still point. In centering prayer, we learn a discipline helping us focus and be silent for this encounter. We need to control our schedule so that we can have time for two twenty minute meditations daily, our posture and position is important, a place in the house conducive to meditation, etc. We repeat our mantra or word to calm the mind and be attentive to the silence of God’s presence touching us. The use of the mantra is very important because it helps us focus our attention on the interior divine presence. Our minds were made to wander, be inquisitive and always ask questions. The mantra controls this to a degree and helps us be aware of someone within us – the presence of God touching us. This calming process in contemplation is not easy and we constantly have to struggle to control our minds. There are always thoughts, feelings and memories of present and past events, crowding into our consciousness.  As a result, we wonder at times if we are progressing in our prayer life.

            Because of the loveliness of nature in the summer time, we can add this to our contemplative discipline and routine helping us to focus on God’s presence within us. The goal of our meditation is to rest in the awareness of the presence of the divine at our center and still point. St. John of the Cross puts it well: cultivating loving attentiveness to this interior presence. This is the goal to which our whole contemplative discipline should lead us. When we reach this loving attentiveness, we do not need to repeat the mantra or word because we are in touch with our Beloved’s presence. John of the Cross mentions that at these moments, we feel God touching us, alerting us that He/She is there and looking at us with loving attentiveness. These are moments which are beyond words – God’s language is silence and we rest in this silent awareness. We meet our Beloved.

            If we have access to a garden, the seashore or the mountains, we can use nature to help us cultivate our resting in God’s presence – that loving attentiveness. It is an encounter simply looking with our spiritual eyes – feeling God touching us at our center and still point. As we approach summer and perhaps as our schedules calm down and we take some vacation time, let us use nature available to us and rest in God’s presence – cultivating and enjoying that loving attentiveness.

“Let us be happy, my Beloved,

and look at your beauty

in the mountains and valleys

where fresh pure water flows,

let us enter more deeply into the forest.”

“Spiritual Canticle,” John of the Cross

Nature and Contemplation

GREAT STILLNESS

Permeates all – penetrates all

as if nothing moves.

Wind brushes through pine branches –

sun shines brilliant white –

sky provides its deepest blue –

it does not matter – stillness prevails over all these.

Nor do the sea gulls’ cries dispel

the quiet. It is all powerful.

Yet silence gives itself away –

I spot footsteps in it – I sense

the presence of someone.

Breeze brushing my face reminds me

of the prophet Elijah in the cave –

divine was not in the thunder nor lightening

nor earthquake

but in the gentle breeze passing by.

Let me be happy in the same cave –

stillness is not empty –

touch of my Beloved on my shoulder.

It is so nice to meet Him.

Robert Trabold

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NATURE AND CONTEMPLATION

Robert Trabold

You, mountains and hills,

bless the Lord!

You, oceans and rivers,

bless the Lord!

                                                                                Daniel, 3.

            People following the path of contemplative prayer and building the discipline of silence into their lives need motivation to preserver in this endeavor. We are busy people and face the challenge to make room for two periods of meditation daily.  Life also has its concerns and we are involved in many things, such as, family, work, interests, etc. We need motivation to focus ourselves and encounter the presence of God at our center and still point. It behooves us to reflect and see what things can help us in our daily attempts at contemplation. One thing that can aid us in our prayer life and to focus on God’s presence is to use nature to lead us into silence. The natural world is full of beauty and silence, and manifests a sense of transcendence and all of these can be very valuable to us.

            In relation to the beauty of nature, I am lucky that I live in a house with a garden which is fairly big and has many bushes and plants so that I can sit there in privacy. During the warm weather of spring, summer and the fall, I take opportunities to meditate there because the flowers of the different seasons touch me and give me a sense of God’s presence. It is good to remember the words of Jesus: “Not even Solomon in all his glory can add to the beauty of the lilies of the field.”  Tulips, daffodils and lilacs of the springtime, roses, hydrangea and phlox of the summer and the chrysanthemums and black eyed suzies of the autumn, each of these has its own feeling and beauty helping me enter into God’s presence. Also, I do not live far from the Atlantic Ocean and walking along the seashore with the blue sea and dunes capture me and help me enter contemplation. The seashore varies with the seasons of the year giving me a variety of experiences and enhancing the spiritual dimension. I have been backpacking my whole adult life in the high peak region of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. Each year I am drawn back and I find it a contemplative experience because the beauty of the peaks, lakes and forests calm me down and help me focus on God’s presence at my center.  In summary, the beautiful things of the natural world can help us in our contemplative journey toward God.

            The second element of nature that can usher us into the contemplative spirit is its quietness. It is as if the natural world is standing at attention in the silence of God. I find the quiet of the garden in the morning and evening helpful to focus on meditation. It has a way of pushing into the background the noises and cares of my daily life and aiding me enter into the silence of contemplation. Walking along the seashore has the same effect. The dunes and the ocean have a calm and quiet touching me and leading me into meditation. Even the sound of the waves in the distance can accentuate this experience. In my backpacking and hiking experience, the mystic mountains and forest exude a silence which is penetrating. I am far from the noise of New York City and the mountains lead me into God’s silence.

            The third quality of nature, its sense of transcendence, grows out of its beauty and silence. In contemplation, we are cultivating a relationship with God who is other and absolute. Although in contemplative prayer, we cultivate a deep intimacy with God who resides at our center – still point, we also have the experience of our Beloved being completely other and different. God is ineffable and in a certain sense, always slips through our fingers. We cannot grasp the divine. The natural world has also this sense of transcendence. The changing beauty of the spring – summer garden with different flowers, the mystic seashore with the vast ocean and its waves and endless dunes, touch us and point to an abyss within us at our center where the transcendent God is present. High mountains and vast views over the landscape from the peaks give us also this sense of otherness. It is as if God left traces of Himself/Herself in the natural world despite the fact that the divine is ineffable and ultimately nothing can be said about it.

            In sum, in contemplative prayer, we are making an inward journey to the divine at our center – still point.  In our life, we cultivate a discipline of silence so that we can meet God in this encounter. In the struggle to be faithful to our contemplative engagement and help us enter into the silence of God, we should use the natural world as an aid to this goal. In our daily struggle to focus ourselves in prayer, the natural world with its beauty, stillness and sense of transcendence can give us a helping hand.

Let us be happy, my beloved,

and look at your beauty

in the mountains and valleys,

where fresh water runs,

let us enter more deeply into the thicket!

                                                                 ‘Spiritual Canticle,’ John of the Cross

                                                                                   (my translation)

Pilgrimage into the Dark Night

HOLY SPACE

John of the Cross

Holy space – John of the Cross

worked here – burial place also.

I feel his presence – still here –

listens to the pilgrims. We come

worried – carrying our luggage

from back home.  We – pulled

in many directions – What do we want?

What can we get? What cannot we get?

Life has many crossroads –

not always to our liking –

things do not always turn out as we want.

Life is beyond us – it slips

through our fingers like sand.

But I made this pilgrimage – wanted

to be in this holy space. Someone is

here – a presence – listens – knows me.

I leave my luggage from back home here and listen.

What does that someone have to say?

John of the Cross – mystic – saint – loved

his Beloved – Jesus – with a passion.

His poetry sings of this – John was

able to sort out what was important – not important.

What Jesus wanted – John wanted.

I am sure not always to his liking –

such is life.

He knew Jesus as his Beloved –

who loved John – never let him down.

In this holy space – pilgrimage –

John will speak to me – lead me –

lead me to Jesus – into the stillness of God

who will put the luggage of my life

in the right place –

a job never finished on earth.

Giving me that peace – knowing - 

I am in the right hands –

despite it all.

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PILGRIMAGE INTO THE DARK NIGHT

Robert Trabold

            In the spring of 2011, I made a pilgrimage of silence to Castilla y León, Spain where the two great mystics, John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila lived and died. It was a pilgrimage of silence in so far that in visiting these holy sites and spaces, I was lead into contemplation trying to touch the presence of the divine at my center and still point. I did not bring along books to read but did bring one of the poems of John of the Cross.  While on the trip, I read slowly his major poems which helped me focus on the presence of the divine. The poem of John, ‘A Dark Night,’ helped me feel that this inward journey of contemplation to meet God at our center and still point is one that is always wrapped in mystery. It leads us to an encounter with God who is transcendent and completely other from ourselves and the natural world around us. In that sense, it is very different from relationships we have with other humans. In spite of this dimension of transcendence and otherness, this relationship is much closer and deeper to us than other relations can be. In human relationships, the other is always in front of us and exterior to us. But in this encounter in contemplation and silence, we feel the divine presence deep within us where no one else can enter. So this relationship has a dimension of mystery and darkness which John of the Cross so well celebrates in his poem. We note also that although this relationship is completely different from our ordinary experiences, it is an encounter of love where the divine touches and reminds us that He/She loves us and asks us to respond to this invitation.  As John of the Cross so well puts, it is an encounter in darkness but one that is also burning with fire of love. We are meeting our Beloved who takes us by the hand and asks us to respond with our love. While I was on pilgrimage to Segovia where John lived and is buried, his poem about the dark night was always present to me and helped me feel the presence of the divine within me.

            On this pilgrimage also to Castilla y León, I made it a point to visit several Marian shrines with statues of the Black Madonna and I wanted to enter more into their

symbolism. Statues of the Black Virgin are all over Europe and are centers of pilgrimage for many people. I was able to visit such statues in the Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha in Madrid. I made a trip also to Toledo and in the cathedral, I visited the chapel of Our Lady of the Sanctuary and the beautiful statue of the ‘La Virgen Blanca.’ These two statues are very famous and attract many visitors to the church. I sat in meditation in front of these and the dark complexion of the mother and child had an aura of mystery. Because the faces and skin were black, I had the feeling that the Virgin was leading us into the mystery of the dark night that John of the Cross speaks about in his poem. With this dark color of the face and skin, Mary directs us in our inward journey to meet the transcendent God who is completely other than we are but loves us and wants to have our friendship. I believe that these Black Madonna pilgrim shrines not only in Europe but in many places in the world attract people for this reason.  Darkness is a symbol which draws and leads us into mystery of God to whom we want to orientate our life. Our daily life is full of many things, interests, occupations, concerns, etc, and it is a challenge to find the central focus which will push our life in the right direction. This focus is God and we have the challenge through our faith and prayer to know and love God better so that the divine can be the center of our activities and relationships and put them into the right direction. This is the challenge of our life and the Black Madonna is in these pilgrimage shrines reaching out to many people and assisting them in this journey of faith.

            The color black is also symbolic of the earth and fertility which are deep human realities.  We come from the earth and our mother’s womb. Looking at the Black Madonna, we ask her to help us with the many problems of our life and the world we live in. In a pilgrimage, we go to a holy space where we have a special encounter with the divine.  We bring the problems and cares of our daily life back home to this holy place asking God his help with these things. The Black Madonna celebrated and honored at these particular shrines can be an intercessor in this regard.

            In conclusion, in making the pilgrimage of silence to Castilla y León, I am always drawn to visit the place where John of the Cross lived and is buried.  I read his poems which set the tone for the trip and this year, I read many times his poem ‘In a Dark Night.’  We are on an inward journey of contemplation to meet God in silence and darkness. It is a meeting of love where the divine invites us into a relationship of friendship.  This year, I also coupled this pilgrimage with a visit to three chapels with statues of the Black Madonna. The darkness of the statues exudes mystery and invites us to take the hand of Mary who will lead us into the presence of the transcendent God who awaits our friendship.  Since this is a journey to meet God who is completely other and different, we must be content to make this trip in mystery and darkness. The poems of John of the Cross and the statues of the Black Madonna will help us find our way to this beautiful meeting with the Lord.