Week of September 1-7
Elisabeth Meadows, OSB, Sacred Heart Monastery, Cullman, AL
Not a quarter, not a crescent
Tonight the moon is so luminously elegant that my impoverished words stop short in approach. Even the stars keep a deferential distance, and the humble sky offers a muted canvas of colorless black.
This moon...under which Abraham tented, the Psalmist sat in awe, the Holy Family slept, St. Paul traveled, holy ones kept vigil, and untold millions - arrayed like stars through the centuries - have lived, slept, suffered, rejoiced... this same moon graces the night sky above us as one by one the windows of Sacred Heart grow dark and we slide into the peacefulness of night.
This moon...so luminous...can only be described by that which it is not... not a quarter, not a crescent, neither waxing nor waning, but a silent, self-effacing canvas reflecting the radiance of the handiwork of God, and proclaiming the glory of the Lord.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork...Ps 19:1
O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth! You have set your majesty above the heavens... When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you set in place - what are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? From Ps 8
Sister Elisabeth Meadows is a Benedictine Sister at Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman, Alabama. She directs the community's retreat center, serves in several other roles within the community, and finds great joy in the 'everyday' of monastic life and in the great gift of sharing life with her sisters in monastic community.
