WORD Becoming, Spiritual Reflections by Fr Roderick Salazar Jr, SVD (Philippines)
Two quotes these.
From two saints.
Contemporaries.
Though the man
was half the age
of the woman.
Friends, mystics both,
they were declared
Doctors of the Church:
San Juan de la Cruz.
(St. John of the Cross)
Santa Teresa de Jesus
(St. Teresa of Avila).
“If I am not seen again in the familiar places,
the common ground, the village green,
say of me: LOST to men
say that stricken by love,
I am adventure-bound
LOST, on purpose TO BE FOUND.”
Some years ago, I was given a stampita
with this quote, and I was hooked on
“Lost, on purpose to be found.”
It is Stanza 29 in a prayer-poem
with 40 stanzas, the
Spiritual Canticle of the Soul
and the Bridegroom Christ
written by San Juan de la Cruz.
between 1577 and 1578
while he was in prison, put there
by jealous superiors.
It is his version of the Biblical
Canticle of Canticles or
the Song of Solomon.
It is an expression of passionate love
of a soul enamored with God.
The quoted line came up
as I was feeling sad
aware that many have
the same sentiment
having lost friends and relations,
jobs and security, a sense of purpose
in life because of this virus
and the long quarantine.
Lost.
Might as well lose myself — in God.
TO BE LOST — on purpose TO BE FOUND.
Closer to our time,
not a mystic but a singer,
a poet, too.
A diamond of a man,
he wrote the music and lyrics
of the film version of
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
who dared to fly to uncharted skies
and shoot for unexplored horizons.
Neil Diamond.
Read his lines as he sings
lifting the seagull up where
the bird believed he belonged:
“Lost, on a painted sky
where the clouds are hung
for the poet’s eye
you may find him
if you may find him
There on a distant shore
by the wings of dreams
through an open door
you may know him
if you may
BE, as a page that aches for a word
which speaks on a theme that is timeless
and the one God will make
for your day.
SING, as a song in search
a voice that is silent
and the Sun God will make
for your way.
And we dance to a whispered voice
overheard by the soul, understood by the heart
and you may know it, if you may know it.
While the sand would become the stone
which begat the spark turned to living bone
Holy holy Sanctus Sanctus
Another kind of prayer here.
A holy song lifting the soul
to heights unknown
or depths unfathomed: GOD.
If I am lost, should I get lost
better to lose myself in Him.
She is the woman who turns
everything in the dark house upside down
to find her lost coin.
He is the shepherd who seeks the lost lamb
and does not rest till the finding.
He is the father who welcomes home the prodigal son
and urges in the jealous brother.
Who loses life will find it in God.
Abundantly.
As Frederick Buechner observed:
“What is lost is nothing to what is found.
And all the death that ever was, set next to life,
would scarcely fill a cup.”
So Santa Teresa reminds:
“Let nothing disturb you,
let nothing frighten you
All things pass away
God never changes
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing
God alone suffices
SOLO DIOS BASTA.
In Him
I lose myself —
on purpose to be found.
SOLO DIOS BASTA
