Yesterday as the outer world tumbled in turmoil, I worked on The Art of Quiet Disruption.
Therefore, searching for a different voice to carry into today seemed appropriate. A voice that speaks across time with dignity and beauty that we need to settle our souls just now.
So I picked up John O’Donohue’s blessing from the chapter Beyond Endings, which I had sat with earlier in the week. It seemed fitting:
THE INNER HISTORY OF A DAY
No one knew the name of this day;
Born quietly from deepest night,
It hid its face in light,
Demanded nothing for itself,
Opened out to offer each of us
A field of brightness that travelled ahead,
Providing in time, ground to hold our footsteps
And the light of thought to show the way.The mind of the day draws no attention;
It dwells within the silence with elegance
To create a space for all our words,
Drawing us to listen inwards and outwards.We seldom notice how each day is a holy place
Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens,
Transforming our broken fragments
Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.Somewhere in us a dignity presides
That is more gracious than the smallness
That fuels us with fear and force,
A dignity that trusts the form a day takes.So at the end of this day, we give thanks
+ John O’Donohue, from Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, Bantam Press 2007
For being betrothed to the unknown
And for the secret work
Through which the mind of the day
And wisdom of the soul become one.