Lent Quiet Morning
The Desert and the Wilderness in Our Lives
(at the entrance: Faure Requiem: Introitus & Kyrie)
Prayer for the Morning:
We are waking God.
We are waking
and we pray
that we may know you
as manna in the desert,
wellsprings in the wilderness,
honey from the rock,
O God our habitation
and our way.
The Desert Mothers:
A blessing
May the One who dwells
in every landscape
divest you of all that hinders
your path into God.
Finding Hagar after the birth of Ishmael: Genesis 21:14-19
‘…And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way off.. for she said, “Let me not look upon the death of the child.” And as she sat…the child lifted up his voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles your, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” Then God open her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.’
Finding Miriam after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds: (they were in the desert, having left Egypt behind)
Book of Exodus 15:20-21
‘Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.’
(play Avalon: Lady of the Lake)
A Blessing
May you know the presence
of those who have passed
through the desert before you.
May they point the way
toward freedom
and sustain you
with their stories.
In the wilderness
may there be wellsprings.
May there be wings.
The desert will open itself in our lives to a deeper relationship with God if we only allow it.
(Quiet reflection on finding God in your own desert: what is it?
Use the following Scripture to guide you into quiet contemplation on the abundance of God in the midst of your life)
Sitting in the desert/in the quiet/in the room with God: Matthew 6:6
“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Go sit in your cell (or closet)
it will teach you everything
Go to the place called barren.
Stand in the place called empty.
And you will find God there.
Meditating on Scripture in the silence:
‘And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (Mark 1:12-13)
(Upon returning play Chant: As the Deer Longs)
That you may know your life as a sacred text.
That God will lead you to read your story anew.
That you may see how the holy in habits each line
and breathes across each page.
Like the earth you are layer upon layer.
Laid over and under.
Thick and thin, even and irregular.
You are sturdy in some places,
crumbling in others.
At rest.
And restless.
In some layers you are soaked with water,
green with life, and nurturing.
In other layers you are hard,
like marble, slate, a rolling avalanche
even a desert.
Discover the layers unknown to you at the time.
Deep within there are lands where you
have never been.
How can this season of Lent
drive you deeper into your own deserts,
your inner landscape
even as Jesus was driven into his desert?
(play Earth Mass: Adoro Te Devote)
Walking your desert either at a labyrinth or a simple walk:
Walking Blessing
That each step may be a shedding.
That you will let yourself become lost.
That when it looks like you’re going backwards,
you may be making progress.
That progress is the not the goal anyway,
but presence
to feel the path on your skin,
on the way it reshapes you
in each place it makes contact,
to the way you cannot see it
until the moment you have stepped out.
Go for a walk
return renewed.
( Play The Pilgrim: The Deers’ Cry)
In your leaving we say peace…
In your going we say joy…
In your departing we say love…
Amen.
References:
‘Whole Earth Meditation: Ecology for the Sprit
by Joan Sauro, CSJ LuraMedia 1986, 1992
‘In the Sanctuary of Women’
by Jan L. Richardson Upper Room Books 2010
‘In Wisdom’s Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season’
by Jan L. Richardson The Pilgrim Press, 2000