We will overcome...

There are moments when one not only believes in extraordinary, inexplicable happenings, when one believes in serendipity or, to use a phrase, being touched by God, or miracles but also moments when one witnesses them.

I once went on a monk led pilgrimage to Lourdes in the South of France, a place associated with St Bernadette. At least 200 people were on the pilgrimage and over a quarter of them were sick or in some way physically or mentally challenged. #lourdes #stbernadette #France #pilgrimage

One woman I particularly recall because not only was she completely crippled by arthritis and in a wheelchair but because she caused a stir (I quote a sceptical friend).

On the last day of the pilgrimage a service for the malades was held. It was emotional, the priest a deeply numinous man had given a powerful and moving sermon. #healing #sickness #miracles #hammaarskjold #nobelpeaceprize

We were tired and tearful. As the service ended a spontaneous applause and hand clapping occurred, much like the Thursday’s for the NHS.  

The arthritic wheelchair bound woman did not notice at first but those around her did - she was clapping also. She had not been able to move her fingers etc for years. You can imagine her normal immobile state yet here she was joining in the applause. Over the next six months her arthritis and debility receded and she began to walk again, to cook and to lead a normal life, supple and free.

To me another moment of serendipity, on a different plane, was when a young monk lent me "Markings" a posthumously published book by Dag Hammarskjold. I had never heard of him. He had been the Secretary General of the United Nations and had died in a plane crash in Africa in 1961. It is still considered that his plane was deliberately shot down.

Reading of him I realised what an extraordinary man he was, a phenomenal man of peace and love. "Markings" was the book of his jottings, considerations and thoughts which were discovered in his private papers. Like Rilke he had written that the longest journey is the journey inward and his jottings were almost a record of that journey. He was awarded, posthumously, the Nobel Peace Prize.

His thoughts have guided, influenced and fed me over the years.

Yesterday evening the sun shone where I am staying in Scotland. The house overlooks the Forth of the Tay. The sun has been hidden for many weeks but yesterday evening she was in her best robes.

The sunset was utterly awesome...a fabulous display of colours, of lights and of intensities, ever changing but laid out like a cornucopia of beauty and wonder for over an hour.

I realise that I frequently fail to look and see. I might notice or register something in passing but last evening I truly saw and focussed on and appreciated this stunning natural happening.

A quotation of Hammarskjold came to mind:

In the point of rest at the centre of our being, we encounter a world where all things are at rest in the same way. Then a tree becomes a mystery, a cloud a revelation, each man a Cosmos of whose riches we can only catch a glimpse.

The sunset was one such revelation.

I have sat this morning and pondered and tried to go a little further on the longest journey.

Into the forefront of my consciousness came yet another resounding jotting of Hammarskjold:

For all that has been,

Thank you

For all that is to come,

Yes!

Yes, yes, yes to what is now. Yes, we will overcome the anguish and suffering. Yes, we will live life fully. Yes, we will face all things with faith and hope and yes we will deepen our love.