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 –
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 Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid , New York
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
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
