The thing about Jean-Talon is the extraordinary colors. On a cool and grey day, it becomes an oasis of reds, oranges, yellows and greens. And the flowers! They create yet another festival of violets, blues and yellows. Even if nothing is purchased - and that is almost an impossibility - it is just a treat to walk around and take in all the visual blessings.
When we got home, I took Lucie to the sofa in the front room so that Di could rest in the bedroom. She (Di) did not sleep well and needed a dark quiet place to rest. I needed time with my buddy - and within 10 minutes she was asleep wrapped around my feet. For the next 90 minutes we both slept like logs. From time to time, she would hear a street sound and perk up in her startled, anxious way. This was a good time just to rub her softly and remind her all was safe. Then she would crash again into another deep sleep. Me, too. In time she had wound her legs around mine and had her head resting - albeit asleep - on my knee. Let's just say a good time was had by all. (And now she is back on the sofa sleeping on my pillow while I write!)
I mention these little, almost boring details because it is Trinity Sunday: the celebration of the mystical dance of loving relationship that is God. On this day, we celebrate that the essence of the Sacred is like a divine dance - a relationship - a mutual sharing, receiving and honoring of love in ways that nurture all at the same time. Fr. Richard Rohr has noted that:
A Threefold God totally lets go of any boundaries for the sake of the Other, and then receives them back from Another. It is a nonstop waterwheel of Love. Each accepts that He is fully accepted by the Other, and then passes on that total acceptance. Thus “God is Love.” It’s the same spiritual journey for all of us, and it takes most of our life to accept that we are accepted—and to accept everyone else. Most can’t do this easily because internally there is so much self-accusation (self-flagellation in many cases). Most are so convinced that they are not the body of Christ, that they are unworthy, that we are not in radical union with God.The good news is that the question of union has already been resolved once and for all. We cannot create our union with God from our side. It is objectively already given to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (Romans 8:9—and all over the place!). Once we know we are that grounded, founded, and home free, we can also stop defending ourselves and move beyond our self-protectiveness, too.
One of the gifts I have been given on the sabbatical is the chance to rest. I have also been given the unexpected gift of helping my all too nervous dog, Lucie, learn to rest, too. The more she is at rest - the more she is loved and reassured - the deeper and more satisfying my rest, too. The same is true for the love and rest Di and I share in very ordinary ways. I think Rohr's observation about human and holy strength as the source of loving rest in light of the Trinity rings true:
Paul says, “God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25). That awesome line gives us a key into the Mystery of Trinity. I would describe human strength as self-sufficiency or autonomy. God’s weakness I would describe as Interbeing. Human strength admires holding on. The Mystery of the Trinity is about each One letting go into the Other. Human strength admires personal independence. God’s Mystery is total mutual dependence. We like control. God loves vulnerability. We admire needing no one. The Trinity is total intercommunion with all things and all Being. We are practiced at hiding and protecting ourselves. God seems to be in some kind of total disclosure for the sake of the other. Our strength, we think, is in asserting and protecting our boundaries. God is into dissolving boundaries between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet finding them in that very outpouring! Take the rest of your life to begin to unpackage such a total turnaround of Reality.
This morning Di and started reading the daily Psalms aloud in English and then in French. Tomorrow we start another phase of this sabbatical as she heads out with her camera and I hunker down with my bass. And then, after lunch and a nap, we'll start wandering into new and as yet unexplored neighborhoods.
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