Spring Tour Cancelled

Dear friends,

My spring tour in the States in April is cancelled. I will stay home on my hillside and paint. Now with the gift of unscheduled time in which to create, my spirit soars and my physical world of business diminishes. I am home in a sacred place.

Words come to mind: Unprecedented. Patterns disrupted. Thoughts changed. Refocusing. Fragile. Loss. Confusion. Confinement. Sickness. Medical staff overworked. With so much negative news I am reminded of how powerful prayer can be. There is a certain global solidarity in our thoughts and in our inner spirits. We see things in a different way than we did two months ago. Through prayer comes an inner sense of hope in spite of it all. It enhances our awareness of the divine and puts us in a mode of compassion. We contemplate and search for a deeper understanding of the Truth and experience the presence of God in a profound way. We communicate through our spirits in thought and prayer to give courage and strength to all who are sick, to the caregivers, doctors, nurses, to those who are losing so much and to those who are responsible for making decisions that will impact many.

While many of us are at home, we can make the most of this time in large or small ways. We can dream our dreams. We can perceive the daily progress of the trees in bloom or the flowers in our yards or out our windows. The chant of the birds can renew our hope.

Let us be united through prayer:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain here it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost an in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

– Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude