ADVENT - CHRISTMAS 2015

 

 

 

DEEPER DOWN THINGS

 

Kilmarnock, Va.

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

Utter quiet just silent breeze

brushing my face. Blue Chesapeake

Bay water lies in silence – sunshine.

Breeze flutters over it – but hardly

moving it.  Late afternoon sunshine

diming adds to the peace.

 

Happy to be here touch of beauty

moment of silence – enchanted world.

They wash over me.

 

Let me hold on to them

will always remember  them.  Years of life

run by like breeze touching my face.

I wonder where is it all going

my world – endless wars of my country?

 

Here on the wharf, watching blue

water gives me hope.

Moments of beauty point to the Beloved

will not let my hands go –nor our world’s.

 

St. Paul says:

“For those of faith,

all things work for the good.”

 

 

                                                          -----------------------------


 

ADVENT – CHRISTMAS TIME – 2015

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

            As we approach the month of December, we enter into the season of Advent and Christmas where we commemorate and remember the birth of Jesus Christ on earth.  The heavens opened up and Jesus was born to bring us the Good News of how we are to live as God’s children on earth. This time is also a busy one for us.  The season brings many social activities with our family and friends. We commemorate the birth of Jesus which brings us together with other people. The month of December has also the down side of the rampant commercialism which accompanies this holy time.  Starting already early in November, the stores and media pound us with advertisements on what to buy for ourselves, our household, relatives and friends.  These are all over the place and we cannot escape them.  They can distract us from the real and deep meaning of Advent and the Christmas season.  We have to struggle on our part to keep in focus the spirituality of this season which will help us not be dominated by the materialism and gift giving.  The social activities of this season are important but we have to put them in perspective so they do not overwhelm us.

 

            The advent of Jesus into the world should remind us that the central goal of our life is to put God at the center. Jesus came to give us the Good News that God our Father loves us and wants us to love Him in return. This can be more difficult than it sounds.  Our human life on earth is complicated and we can be torn in many directions. Some of these can be good, others bad for us. During Advent, we have to clear the air and refocus our sights on Jesus and His message. One of the things that can help us in this task is to be faithful to our daily meditation of twenty minutes, twice a day. For a short while, we put other things aside in our life and focus on the presence of the Lord at our still point and center and on His path for us to follow.

 

            In meditation and contemplative prayer, we let go of our thoughts, desires, plans, images, etc. and we enter into silence and focus on the presence of the Divine who is there. There is a cleaning out of ourselves for a short while to be in the presence of someone who is the origin of our life. In meditation, there is simplicity because we quietly repeat our mantra; there is no fuss in this. This repetition of the mantra helps us go beyond many words, images, thoughts to focus on the presence of our Beloved. In this focusing on the Lord in silence and simplicity, we receive the invitation of love.  We realize that the Lord loves us and want us to love in return.  It is an invitation to orientate our life around one who will fulfill us. Only God can do this. We will no longer be torn in every direction but see the path to follow in life which will bring us a peace which the world cannot give.

 

            This is the reason why Jesus came into the world in order to give us this invitation to enter into God’s path and love. Our work then in Advent is to orientate ourselves to this call from the Divine. We will participate in all the social activities of this season but also keep in our sights the real meaning of Advent and the coming of Christ. We will not let the materialism of our modern and urban world deceive us. We will put our sights on the things which do not pass away. God offers us His/Her hand with the

coming of Jesus and we have to prepare ourselves to reach out and grasp it.

 

 

                                              ----------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



PIILGRIMAGE AND MEDITATION

 

 

 

SILENCE OF MARY

 

Mary, Queen of the Heavens

Montréal

 

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

Simple chapel,

simple church

silence of the chapel

touches me.

 

Mary does not say

anything. Lets

us know she is

there – silent – listening.

 

I came a long way to

make this trip – pilgrimage.

Ride – long – tiring

 I made it.

 

I want to thank Mary

for being here.  She knows

all my problems

problems of the world.

 

Silence is here

language of God.

Mary learned it

 covers me with it.

 

I sit in the chapel

a pilgrim who travelled

long distance to touch

the Divine – the Beloved.

 

Mary assures me

trip was not in vain.

Jesus – Mary are

listening – touch me with silence.

 

                                                         -----------------------------------------

PILGRIMAGE AND MEDITATION

 

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

            During the last month of September, I had the opportunity to make a two week pilgrimage to Québec, Canada and I visited beautiful shrines on the shores of the St. Lawrence River.  I made this pilgrimage by myself and considered it a trip of silence and meditation.  I did not go in a group so that I would have much time to make such a contemplative trip. I first went to Québec City where I visited the shrine of St. Mary of the Incarnation. She lived there in the early years of the French colony and was a great mystic.  She had a deep experience of the presence of God at her center and still point and wrote beautifully about this in her letters. She is called the Theresa of Avila of North America. I then went to the beautiful basilica of St. Ann of Beaupré on the outskirts of the city and situated on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. It is a famous pilgrimage church in Québec and many pilgrims go there especially for physical healings. I then drove to Trois Rivières and visited the shrine of Our Lady of the Cape. It is also a beautiful church situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence River and commemorates the apparition of the Virgin to the people there in the 19^th century. I continued on to the city of Montréal and visited three places. I went to the shrine of St. Brother André who lived in the 20^th century and had a profound influence on the people of that city due to his sanctity and healings.The latter continue to this day. I also visited the shrine of Saint Padre Pio and the church of Our Lady, Queen of the Heavens.

 

            During these two weeks of visiting these churches, I was in silence and meditating. I knew few people in Canada so I could focus on the visit to these holy places. The beauty of the shrines and they being dedicated to very holy people reinforced the sense of silence in my prayer. I was in a special place and made great efforts to drive long distances to visit there. This added to the experience of meditation and silence.  There was an encounter with Jesus and the saints which I felt very intensely. This immersion in silence and meditation for two weeks can make us feel a bit uncomfortable. In our modern life in the big cities, we are not accustomed to much quiet since noise is all around us with many people, television, our activities, cell phones, etc. Silence seems to be out of place and a mysterious thing. But being immersed in silence and meditation for two weeks highlighted the meaning of contemplative prayer.  This quiet is not really empty but is the place of a deep encounter with the divine, the Lord, Our Beloved. We meet someone and out of the nothingness of silence, we have an encounter of love with the ground of our being and around whom we rotate our whole life. Our life has a meaning and depth that no one else can give to us. We no longer have a feeling of the emptiness of life but have it filled with a personal reality who wants us to love in return.

 

            Coming home then to New York City where I live, I feel that I had a deep contemplative experience enriched by the visit to beautiful shrines and basilicas in a lovely part of the world, Québec and on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. Hopefully this rich experience of prayer and silence will help me be faithful to the practice of contemplation twice a day, each time for 20 minutes. It will help me be preserving in the contemplative path when there are times of dryness and distraction. I can look a back to the deep experience of prayer in this pilgrimage encouraging me to continue on and not give up.

 

                                            

                                        ---------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 



Contemplative Life Style

LIFE – A ROLLERCOASTER

Robert Trabold

Life can be a rollercoaster.

so many things to do

decisions to be made

some successful, other not.

Recent weeks have been a

rollercoaster. Work outside

work inside – upstairs – downstairs

list gets longer – not shorter.

I feel the pressure lays

on my body. Feel my nerves

frayed – high pitch.

I cannot turn off the radio.

Came to the seashore

looked for calm – beauty

fresh air- breeze – dunes

sand – quiet.

I talk to Jesus – put the

load on Him.  He will he[p

me carry all of this – help me

make the right decisions.

I cannot ask for too much

clarity in life. There are

 burdens.  I have to be calm

try my best – hope in Jesus.

Like the ocean in front of me

vast – incomprehensible

so is life.  Comes in waves – some

knock me down –others no.

Let me be calm

take Jesus’ hand. Walk

with Him.  He will get me

through the storms.

--------------------------------- 

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 to which God calls me and motivating me to be faithful with the spiritual routine despite the periods of dryness that inevitably come.

            I am active in 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. Being 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 helps 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 have with the Lord. I try to put into words, images, symbols, etc, the closeness and intimacy I feel 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. These activities 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 for and read contemplative poetry to a secular audience. I have found to my surprise the audience does respond positively to my writing 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 try 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.

                                            ------------------------------------------

           

             

Appreciation of Silence

 

 

 

 

ADIRDONACK PINES

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

Stately pines reaching to sky

deep blue  that only

Adirondack Mountains can paint.

Sun is clear - strong

tree branches reach out for its

life giving nourishment.

 

Pines – sky – sun light

each a silence

broken only by gentle breeze

whistling through pine trees

breeze so peaceful – so soft – adds to

silence of the woods.

 

So many years I walked - sat

among these stately pines.

Why do I come back?

I tell my friends I meet Someone here.

 

Silence of Adirondack pines

echoes silence of God – Absolute

my Beloved.

Being there is a walk in mystery

mystery in the Adirondack blue sky

also a presence

within me – at my center – at my still point.

 

I rest in this mystery – letting gentle breeze

touch me

soft kiss of Someone who loves me.

Feel my breathing in and out – pointing to

presence at my center.

 

Continue to look at blue sky – soaring pines

let silence - beauty run over me

inundate me – embrace me.

Say no words because in silence of pines

my Beloved is wooing me.

 

Gentle call!

No words of mine fit the situation

I sit in quiet - let it wash over me.

Joy!

 

 

                                                            -----------------------------

 

 

 

 

APPRECIATION OF SILENCE

 

 

Robert Trabold

 

 

 

            The summer time may be a chance when we can come to appreciate what silence is in our life. When we think and talk about silence, it appears to us as a mysterious thing. In one sense, it is out of step with our modern life.  Many of us live in these big cities and are busy and overwhelmed with activities. We have our life of work, family, studies and education, etc. This fast pace is now faster with the advent of the social media and the cell phones. We can be contacted wherever we are and are pressurized to respond with texts and messages. So silence is somewhat strange.  It is drowned out in the fast pace of living.

 

            In the summer time, however, we may have more opportunities to step out of this hectic pace of modern living. For many of us in the temperate zone, the weather gets warmer and nature that has been asleep in the winter comes alive and there are chances to be outside and enjoy the beauties of the natural world. There may be a slackening of the pace of our duties with vacation time and opportunities to be in our gardens or the seashore or the mountains. These days then can be the advent of silence and reflection on our life. For example, I am lucky to live near the Atlantic Ocean and look forward spend time walking along the beaches and seashore. I have a garden at home and enjoy in the summer the opportunity to sit outside in the evening. I admire the loveliness of the summer flowers and feel the quiet of the garden and nature. I cannot do this in the winter time because it is too cold to sit outside.

 

            So the summer can be a time of silence and quiet and give us opportunities to grow in the contemplative dimension of our life. It gives us a space to reflect on who we are, where we are going in life and what are the goals and ultimate end of our living. So in these moments of quiet and reflection, we become aware of silence and uncover new riches for our human living. These spaces can be ones where we pull things together in our life, see things in a new and deeper way. Silence then loses some of sense of difference from our ordinary life and we realize it as a necessary part of human living.

 

            As contemplatives who meditate twice a day in silence and repeat our mantra, it is an encounter with Someone who is very important for us. In the silence of our prayer, we encounter a presence who is mysterious and transcendent but who also wants to reveal Himself/Herself to us. There is darkness in this encounter because we are meeting the divine. Yet despite this darkness, we feel that the Lord is reaching out to us and wants to enter a relationship of mutual love. Contrary to our feeling that silence can be empty, it is rather full with an important meeting. John Main mentions that in our meditation and contemplation, we meet the ground of our being, the primordial Spirit around which we are to orientate our life. It is no longer empty but now is filled with the presence of Someone with whom we journey on earth. We are no longer torn between different ways of living which the modern world presents to us. Some can be good, others detrimental to us. We are meeting the Lord Jesus who takes us by the hand and leads us on earth and hopefully to eternal life.

 

            With the encounter with God in this quiet time, silence loses some of it mystery and we become aware of its beauty and depth. Quiet time may not be the most popular thing in modern living but in our contemplative prayer, we have found a pearl of great value. John Main mentions that we find the one who is the ground of our life, gives it meaning and deep value. We do not let the many activities of our daily modern life overwhelm us but now have an anchor to guide our living on earth. So it behooves us to take advantage of the possible slowdown in our daily activities which the summer and vacation time offer us and so enter more deeply into silence and quiet time. This will enrich our life and help us continue on our contemplative path.

 

 

 

                             -----------------------------------------------------------------

 

           

 

           

 

           

 

 

 



BLACK MADONNA - PILGRIMAGE INTO MYSTERY - 2015

BLACK MADONNA

Altoetting, Germany

Robert Trabold

Dark chapel pierced by candle

light. Silver – gold glittering!

Stately candles on the alter

add solemnity. Many yellow

roses blend with gold – silver.

In the middle, small dark

statue – woman with a child

dressed in black  - gold

holding a golden rose.

Silence reigns in the chapel.

Many people – pilgrims

no talking – stand at attention

in presence of the Black Madonna.

Statues centuries old

1000 years – Who knows?

People travel - come from far

wide like me.

We carry our human load

ourselves - our world.

Many clouds of thunder

need more rays of sunshine.

Myself with all the

crowd stand here

in silence. No spoken

words – deeper ones inside of us.

Dark skin of the Virgin

child mysterious

gives us hope in the

road of life – our earthly voyage.

I know that the Virgin

with child are listening.

We all stand in silence

praying – hoping.

It will all work out.

                                                                  -------------------------- 

BLACK MADONNA: PILGRIMAGE INTO MYSTERY – 2015

ROBERT TRABOLD

            In the month of May this year, I had the privilege and opportunity to visit two Black Madonna shrines in Europe.  I went to Altoetting in Southern Germany and to Einsiedeln in Switzerland.  Both of these shrines are very old and go back into history more than a thousand years. Altoetting used to be a Roman trading post where the roads that came over the Alps met. The town became a center of commerce and trade and had perhaps some religious significance and temples. With time, it became a center of Christianity and a point for the further evangelization of that part of Europe. Einsiedeln in the 9^th century was the place where a hermit Meinrad lived in silence. People came to see him for advice and healings. Upon his death, the hut and place where he lived became a place of pilgrimage and through the centuries grew into a modern pilgrimage center.

            Both of these pilgrimage shrines are devoted to and centered upon the statue of the Black Madonna with her child. These statues are very old and no one knows much about their real age or where they came from. That these statues are black is a subject of much discussion. They are very old and as such get dirty. In the past centuries, they were considered sacred objects as they still are and were not to be touched or restored. As a result, the candle soot made the statues black and these statues became the center of pilgrimages and had an ability to draw many people to the shrines. There is some conjecture that the people are drawn to these Black Madonna statues because in the ancient Greek and Roman religions, there were black goddesses. There are many ruins of temples dedicated to them in Southern Europe pointing to a possible pagan influence in our Christian practice. Be as it may, these black statues have the ability to draw people from all over Europe who come with their concerns and problems and who are looking for help from the Black Madonna.

            Over the years, theses statues also have an elaborate wardrobe. People have made special and richly ornate garments for the statues. It is a sign of their affection for the Madonna and child that the people want to make public. These robes are rotated on the statue for particular seasons and times and add to their attractive power.

            I made a contemplative pilgrimage to these two shrines. I went by myself and I had much time for silence and meditation. I participated also in the various religious activities of the place. As I sat in silence in the chapels of the Black Madonna, I experienced a tremendous sense of mystery surrounding the statues. The beauty of the chapel and the decorations around the statue were very attractive. I felt that the Virgin was drawing me there and all the other pilgrims. In one sense we are drawn to the human figure of the Virgin and child but the blackness has us feel that they are from another world, the spiritual one, and one that is a mystery to us. We are not just drawn to the human mother figure but also that she leads us into another world where we will meet the divine. The silence of the chapel and the stillness of the people give that aura. In the silence that reigns, we present out petitions to the Virgin and child and ask help with these.

            My meditation there was one of silence looking at the beautiful decorated statues of the Virgin and child and I repeated my mantra to try to touch the presence of the Divine at my center and still point. All of this added to sense of mystery which was the goal of my pilgrimage to these two shrines.  I believe that the other pilgrims around me had a similar experience. They made a long trip to be in the presence of the Black Madonna and child and to enter into the mystery of this divine presence. The Virgin certainly was human in her life but now in heaven, draws us into her presence so that she can ultimately help us enter this same spiritual life now and later after our death.

            This whole pilgrimage of our life on earth and the trip to the shrines are shrouded in mystery. Our life on earth has many ups and downs, moments of light and those of darkness. There are no easy answers to our living neither to our violent and tumultuous world. For this reason we make these pilgrimages to the Black Madonna and child. She knows all our problems but leads us into her presence and that of the child. Amidst the darkness of life and the mystery of the Divine of which her black skin is a symbol,

the Virgin extends a helping hand to all the pilgrims.  It gives us hope on our journey through the years on earth and a sense a purpose to this pilgrimage.

                                              ---------------------------------------------