Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

 "We are the drop of water rising up , joining with the drops

in a cloud until in a blink of the cosmic eye the drop falls

returning to the expansive sea from whence it came...back home."

- Adapted from a Buddhist teacher

"Every moment and every event of

every person's life on earth plants

something in our soul. For just as the wind 

carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment

brings with it germs of spiritual vitality 

that comes to rest imperceptibly in the minds

and wills of everyone. Most of these

unnumbered seeds perish and are

lost, because we are not prepared to receive them: 

for such seeds as these spring up 

anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

- New seeds of Contemplation. Thomas Merton

Inspiration :

Waking in the morning can be a most mystical gift.

Sometimes rest and sleep do not arrive as we intend.

It can be restless, filled with passages into rabbit holes

that make Alice's experience seem like metaphors 

while other storylines contain some hidden truths

or fears sparked by exaggerated interpretation 

of the real.

Yet, when the wandering brain and body

signal it is time to return to the world's vibrancy, 

there is no conscious awareness of the science that fuels

the moment of morning's reverie.

Sometimes - just sometimes -the divine 

gift of epiphany

arrives in that dawning without warning or 

prophecy.

    The wonder returns.

The Writing:

Morning Matins: Breathing Under Water

Crickets chirping and morning bird songs

proclaim humble sweet gratitude.

Dark shadows of night evaporate

as the gleam of the forthcoming 

brilliance begins to wash over

resting silent landscape.

The last flowers of summer

submit an offering of one final 

proclamation of blessedness.

Nature's tranquility, evidence 

- of the mystical

caresses with waves of grace.

A rekindled spark of a sanctified sanctuary

gifts the constancy of unconditional love 

with gentle cosmic winds of mercy.

The sound of soft rolling waves on the shore line

sweep away the footprints of authentic

prayer-filled pilgrims, 

gulls and  scampering sandpipers.

A red bead of sun peeks over the horizon illuminating

and warming the waiting third planet

as she moves on in her journey.

 

Yet some insecure sentients deem this sanctuary

imperfect, 

contriving plans to disrupt the grandeur of 

the great cathedral.

The morning matins of wayfaring strangers

as if breathing under water,

conjure tears of deliverance - 

fearing the universe's divine majesty

as it may abandon everything -

starting anew somewhere else in the great expanse.

- JF Sobecki

-----

Poetry (and such for your Contemplation)

A Day

I'll tell you how the sun rose-

A ribbon of a time.

The steeples swam in amethyst,

The news like squirrels ran

The hills untied their bonnets,

The bobolinks begun.

Then I said softly to myself,

"That must have been the sun!"

But how he set , I know not.

There seemed a purple stile

Which yellow boys and girls

Were climbing all the while

Till when they reached the other side,

A domine in grey

Put gently up the evening bars,

And led the flock away.

- E. Dickinson

Sandpiper - E. Bishop

https://youtu.be/y23xgttkUs0?si=qCr2NdnDdY3jlEF6

----

Music: and such for your listening inspiration

(Please click on link below each picture to see video)

Morning Has Broken - C. Stevens(Yusuf)

   (Dawn at White House- Jesuit Retreat ,St. Louis, Mo)

https://youtu.be/e0TInLOJuUM?si=RmHWvT8OKbtn1DoO

Morning - Beck

https://youtu.be/UvKbBkiYN9Y?si=ifkK07uI5rNCcnHn

New Morning - B. Dylan

https://youtu.be/99s-B9YoGPA?si=Qwm_FNQYMI8TEEQ7

Light of the Clear New Morning- Conspirare

https://youtu.be/TkrIQ0XEeFU?si=XpLWYqJivM-0iOkj

-----

Coda: Something extra special for your consideration 

and reflection ( wait until the end)

Intention and Kindness - W. Dyer

https://youtu.be/vmGQev-obBk?si=mKnKJQ7JwTV0DJ8p

AMDG

Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC

Paradox and The Metanoia

 "There are no unsacred places, there are only 

sacred places and desecrated places."

- Wendell Berry

"Each day is a holy day"

- Quaker Tradition

All of creation is sanctified as the light resides in 

the Divine DNA in all things and creatures.

- Adapted Richard Rohr, OFM

The Inspiration :

* Spoiler Alert - 

In a scene from the recent movie "Oppenheimer" General Leslie Groves 

asks Oppenheimer, who was instrumental in the development of 

the first atomic bomb, what were the chances when testing

the first atomic bomb that the bomb would destroy planet earth. 

Oppenheimer responds "Almost zero." The general

retorts "Can't we make that 'zero ' ? 

Oppenheimer could not assure that possibility.

Under the code name "Trinity" (an interesting choice)

the world's first nuclear explosion was tested July 16, 1945.

Everything was suddenly changed forever.

Trinity - Los Alamos, New Mexico
July 16, 1945

                              

* Summer of 2008

The seeker was told he needed a CABG (Coronary Arterial Bypass 

Graft  -  Double Heart By-pass surgery .) He asked

the surgeon how many patients had the surgeon performed this surgery on 

and how many were lost during the surgery . The surgeon said about 1,000 heart 

surgeries and maybe lost one on the table. The seeker asked ,"So are you overdue for another

loss ?" And just like that the seeker darted without hesitation to the local retreat house 

where at the 1130 service and the complete congregation blessed him with 

the sacrament of healing. On his exit Obe Wan Tom grabbed the seeker's 

arm pulling the pilgrim down t hear the 

whispering message , "You know I heard that this really works."

Everything was suddenly changed forever.

Open Heart Surgery - CABG

" No thing stays the same."

- Zen Saying

"To Everything turn, turn, turn

There is a season turn , turn, turn

and a time to every purpose under heaven"

- Turn, Turn, Turn, P. Seeger (adapted Ecclesiates  3: 1- 8 )

"At the day of Judgment , we shall not be asked what

we have read , but what we have done. 

(How we lived , loved and served)"

- Thomas A'Kempis

"If you are not sowing seeds of love, then what's the point?"

The Writing:

 Paradox and The Metanoia 

Pilgrims ride that train to the ineffable hopeful holiness

Believing that their possessions and 

Holding a golden ticket should suffice.

That one seeker damaged his heart by

Grasping for the brass ring one too many times.

Paralyzed  , he was lowered through the roof 

By the trusted consecrated companions

To be in the presence of the great teacher 

Who gifted him complete mercy without enmity.

Filled with doubt the seeker pondered ,

"Was it the healing or the redemption that was

The great miracle? Does it matter?"

Recollections of Homer's trope of spiritual quest

Fueled further fundamental rumination,

"Did Ulysses know that killing the cyclops

That he and his companions would be trapped

In a darkest of dark caves for eternity?"

A roll of the dice,

As the seeker's chest was cracked open like a lobster

A most magnificent metanoia manifests itself.

The sanctifying spark slowly rekindled 

The seeds of compassion and generosity 

Waiting to be sowed .

- JF Sobecki

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

The Poems and Such:

"Poetry is a gateway into intuitive consciousness. It knocks on the doors

 of the heart and the heart opens" 

 - Mirabai Starr

" To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower.'

- Wm. Blake

Evidence

Truly , we live with mysteries too marvelous

to be understood.

How grass can be nourishing in the 

mouths of the lambs.

How rivers and stones are forever

in allegiance with gravity

while we ourselves dream of rising.

How two hands touch and the bonds will 

never be broken.

How people come , from delight or the' scars of damage,

to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance , always ,from those 

who think they have the answers.

Let me keep compan , always ,with those who

say

"Look!" and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.

- Mary Oliver

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seemed filled with the intent

to be lost that their losses no disaster.

Lose something every day .Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names , and wherein was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last , of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones, And , vaster, 

some realms I owned , two rivers, a continent.

I miss them , but it wasn't a disaster.

..... Even losing you ( the joking voice, a gesture 

I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident

the art of losing's not to hard to master

though it may look like ( Write it!) disaster.

- Elizabeth Bishop

_________________-_

The Music:

(Musical reflections on the inspiration)

Sowing The Seeds of Love - Tears for Fears

https://youtu.be/anUsv9ZtxVk

After The Gold Rush - Harris,Parton and Ronstadt ( N. Young)

https://youtu.be/o2XcBL6kWn8

Head Full Of Doubt Road Full of Promise - Avett Brothers

https://youtu.be/JjwlDNwJRpE

Coda: For your listening pleasure if you desire:

The following selection of music's filming the room during a recent yoga session . 

Coincidentally, it was the 15th anniversary

of the pilgrim's "healing" at the retreat house and four days

prior to the 15th anniversary of having his fractured heart healed.

Consider listening to this piece as you reflect on the query below.

Maundy Thursday Tenebrae: Palestrina

( Thank you "Yogi Barry")

 

https://youtu.be/Iiu0kdsPG-s

A Simple Query For Readers:

( What you think of this new category?)

Obi-Wan Lou once guided the seeker saying that the spiritual journey is

is a personal one and non-denominational. The seeker reflected how

one can take the boy out of the church but you can't take the "church"

out of the boy.

A topic suggested contemplation: It may be that event ,  person , time or place that

changed everything for you and how it became a blessing instead of a disaster .

or ...

"One day I will find the right words , and they will be simple."

- Jack Kerouac

AMDG

Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved JF Sobecki LLC