Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | We were enclosed (from Prayer 20) By Catherine of Siena
(1347 - 1380) English version by Suzanne Noffke, O.P. We were enclosed,
O eternal Father,
within the garden of your breast.
You drew us out of your holy mind
like a flower
petaled with our soul's three powers,
and into each power
you put the whole plant,
so that they might bear fruit in your garden,
might come back to you
with the fruit you gave them.
And you would come back to the soul,
to fill her with your blessedness.
There the soul dwells --
like the fish in the sea
and the sea in the fish. 
/ Photo by woodleywonderworks /
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| ============ Thought for the Day: Belief isn't very nourishing.
Direct perception is what the soul craves. ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection -- 
Various Artists
The Tree of Life - Persian Music
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Hi Omss -
Catherine was the 25th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy. Intensely devout, even as a young child, she started having mystical experiences when she was only 6.
When Catherine was a teenager, her mother was overly concerned with Catherine's looks in order to win the girl a husband. In protest, the young Catherine cut off her hair. Her father, however, respected Catherine's spiritual nature and gave her a room of her own for prayer and meditation.
She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, spending the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. During this time, Catherine continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints.
Word spread of her visions and devotion, and soon a group of followers gathered around her -- men and women, even priests.
Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, gradually became more political. She saw how games of power added to the suffering in the world and increasingly fragmented the Catholic Church. Saints, then as now, were expected to remain aloof from worldly affairs and to not meddle in politics. Because of Catherine's outspoken political views she was accused of unorthodoxy, though she was eventually cleared of all charges.
Although she never had much formal education, Catherine became one of the most respected theologians of her day, as well as a powerful political force.
Catherine's letters, and her "Dialog" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the Catholic Church.
In 1378, a political upheaval began, splitting the Catholic Church between two, then three, popes. Catherine died while attempting to reconcile the various factions and bring the pope from Avignon back to Rome.
Five years before her death, Catherine received the Stigmata.
==
We were enclosed,
O eternal Father,
within the garden of your breast.
The metaphor of a garden to represent one's spiritual awareness is an ancient one.
Think about a garden for a moment. What is it? First, it is a place where things grow, a place of life. It is the opposite of death, which is the state of nonspirituality.
The plants of the garden are rooted in the earth, yet they reach upward toward the light of the sun.
On an even subtler level, a garden is a place of nourishment and of beauty. What grows in our spiritual gardens feeds us -- and the world -- through its "fruitfulness." The garden brings beauty, the awareness of harmony to our consciousness. The flowers of the garden represent the spiritual qualities that have opened within us, that in turn cause us to open to the Divine. The flowers are within us, and we are the flowers.
Also, a garden is often a place where lovers secretly meet. It is where we go to spend time in the embrace of the Beloved.
Finally, a garden is a place of contemplation and rest. It is a place where we give ourselves permission to simply be, to settle into the present moment. The garden represents the soul at rest in the living presence of the Divine.
In fact, the word "paradise" means... garden
--
Oh, isn't that a great phrase...
You drew us out of your holy mind
like a flower
But my favorite --
There the soul dwells --
like the fish in the sea
and the sea in the fish.
...The soul not separate from God, not even merely touching God. The soul within God, and God within the soul. The Eternal fills us and surrounds us and is our entire medium of existence.
Have a beautiful day!
Ivan
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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