Opening Prayer
Dear God thank you for bringing us together today
To share, to smile, to reflect in our Quiet Space
Let us find inner stillness and communion with You
And continue our day with love and compassion to all.
Amen
Reading
For the Traveller
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
~ John O’Donohue ~
Luke 24:30-35 (NIV)
On the Road to Emmaus
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Introduction to Silence
Travel can be a great heart and mind changer. Whether travelling in person to distance lands – a holiday perhaps – a local trip away for a few days – or even a journey within your heart
Can you recall heart and mind changes once out of your normal environment? How do you feel when you return? Do you make changes to your life? Do you have a different perspective on your life?
I don’t like flying so go by coach when we holiday in Europe if possible. Once our luggage is in and I am sat in my seat with just my rucksack that is my new space. My seat, the window, new visions. A lightening of mind, a focus on the heart, new perspectives….
Blessing
To come home to yourself
May all that is unforgiven in you be released
May your fears yield their deepest tranquilities
May all that is unlived in you, blossom into a future –
graced with love.
John O’Donohue
