All Hallows' Eve Vision

On this thinnest day of the year, as the Celts would describe it, when the veil between this life and the next is transparent, and spirits of the dead are said to return to their family homes, our morning prayer might be a time to invite Jesus to enter our space, to imagine him drawing close and even to greet him in a new and different way. Pray As You Go suggested that this morning, and I discovered a whole new dimension to praying; I had a Holy Companion here with me in a very different way.

Likewise when I read Rosemerry Wahtola Trammer's poem for today (see below), I imagined what her experience was like as she "made out the shape of a person she loved emerging from the darkness...and her world fused with a wild gratefulness." She made me want to close my eyes and envision one I loved running towards me, emerging from the darkness. and so I did...Oh yes, there she is, fully restored and at peace.

May this All Hallow's Eve bring a visitor to your presence and a wild gratefulness that all is well.

Reunion

                  for Vivian Rose

 Sometimes it happens like this: 

it’s the kind of warm evening 

when one feels lucky knowing

it could be cold, but instead

the skin feels at home in the air

and the dry scent of autumn leaves

is everywhere and the low glow 

of starlight reaches down through

the night with just enough luster

to make out the shape of the person

you love emerging from darkness

and they are alive and running toward you,

and with no effort, the world

is fused with a wild gratefulness, and life

feels as easy as floating on your back

in a warm glassy sea. Sure tomorrow 

there will be news of heists and tragic deaths 

and outright lies and petty jabs, but 

for a moment, the body knows nothing 

but the gift of being carried by grace, 

and these moments, they are everything

when all we can say is 

thank you, thank you, thank you.

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer