Mantra

MANTRA

 

I sit in the quiet – hear the sea’s waves.

I repeat my mantra – over and over again:

‘For you alone, my soul waits in silence.’

I say it out loud – feel the

words vibrate in my body.

Deep sounds touch me –

lifting me up for the meeting.

Mantras are doors – ushering me

into the presence of my Beloved -

 opening up yearnings within me –

tears in my eyes –

gold and glistening jewelry could not ignite me more!

I pause - hear the words again –

a precious presence overwhelms me.

I feel my breathing in and out –

my Beloved touches me in the rhythm.

I hear the distant sea – roaring - mysterious.

Spring sunshine is warm and soft –

sea shore – words

heighten the presence – touch

of my Beloved.

Someone is here - Someone  kisses me.

My Beloved visits me – in the silence –

quiet of the seashore.

Yellow dunes – wild sea waves

are the palace for the meeting.

No castle could be more beautiful.

My Beloved loves me – woos me –

I feel overwhelmed –

Let me rest in this love – precious touch!

Robert Trabold

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GOD OF SILENCE

Robert Trabold

 

Ultimately mysticism deals with the mystery to which silence is our only response.

Gerhard Wehr

 

                In our journey of contemplative prayer, it is important for us to keep our eyes on the essential thing.  We are dealing with and trying to develop the discipline of silence so that we have an encounter with God. This discipline is very important because it is a challenge to overcome our wandering mind and enter into stillness. This is no small task because our minds were made to wander and ask questions. It is in their very structure. That is why we are constantly distracted because our minds are jumping around and also we receive many stimuli from our daily living and activities. We are passing through distraction into stillness and wisdom which is a gift of God because it runs against the nature of our wandering and inquisitive mind.  Realizing this, we have to then dispose ourselves to receive this gift. We are becoming silent so that we can enter into the infinity of God.  The instrument we use to make this transition and enter into this new dimension of prayer is the mantra. By the faithful repetition of our chosen word, our whole being and mind are brought to focus on the presence of the divine with us.  It is our way of touching God.

                God is a reality to which we can relate to in many ways.  We can talk about and we can think of him/her. We can try to have images of the divine in our minds and see many attempts of this in the many religious works of art. God has many facets to which we can respond.  But in silence, we are reacting to God as a whole and to the divine presence.  It is an existential encounter of our human presence meeting the presence of the Lord and we are meeting the divine in its totality.  This encounter in silence goes beyond the attempts to think and talk about God.  It is much more intimate and touches us as our center and still point.  It is an intensely personal encounter deeper that the meetings we have with other human beings because no one can be so close to us as the divine’s presence deep within us. It is also an encounter of love because the Lord invites us in silence to respond to his loving and caring for us in life; we are to reciprocate this love.

                So in one sense, we can say that this is what prayer is about. It is an encounter with the divine in silence at our center and still point. In this meeting, there is a peace that comes to us and a deep intimacy of two presences meeting one another in a deep existential sense. That is why we have to try to be faithful to our repetition of the mantra because we are on a journey of love to meet the infinite God. The mantra is our word but it is powerful because with time it leads us into silence which is the silence of God. It is a journey which requires our patience. Our wandering mind is always on the go.  But with patience and perseverance, we will grow in this silence through the years and the Lord will help us grow in this discipline of silence and the repetition of the mantra. The important thing is that we start and remain faithful to our journey into the infinite silence of God.