Spiritual Sunday
My wife Julia recently compared Lent to nurturing a sprout or pruning a tree. We get a vision of new growth during Christmas and Epiphany but must then rid ourselves of distractions. We must cut away whatever hampers us—this is the Lenten discipline—but the emphasis should be on birthing the vision, not on giving things up.
Julia then alerted me to a Rumi poem that captures this idea, and I like turning to a Sufi mystic to capture the spirit of Lent. Al-Hallaj, incidentally, was a Christ-like 8th-9th century Sufi mystic who was executed for his beliefs. He was famous for saying “I am the truth”:
More Range
By Rumi
We’re friends with one who kills us,
who gives us to the ocean waves. We
love this death. Only ignorance says,
Put it off a while, day after tomorrow.
Don’t avoid the knife. This friend
only seems fierce, bringing your soul
more range, perching your falcon on a
cliff of the wind. Jesus on his cross,
Hallaj on his—those absurd killings
hold a secret. Cautious cynics know
what they’re doing every moment and why.
Submit to love without thinking, as
the sun this morning rose recklessly
extinguishing our star-candle minds.
Added note: There is a wonderful “Lenten Poetry Companion” with a poem for every day of Lent at http://www.sjpcommunications.org/images/uploads/documents/PoetryforLent.pdf.
