DARK LIGHTNING

Last week in Toronto we had a brief thunder and lightning storm in the middle of the night.

The next morning I found an excerpt from one of Merton's books, Bread In The Wilderness.

The excerpt resonated after the storm.

I wrote this post then, but decided to save it for closer to Good Friday.

"Under the pressure of a very great love,
or in the darkness of a conflict that exacts a heroic renunciation of our whole self,
or in the ecstasy of a sudden splendid joy that does not belong to this earth,
the soul will be raised out of itself.
It will come face to face with the Christ of the Psalms.
In an experience that might be likened to a flash of dark lightning.
a thunderclap on the surface of the abyss... . (146).

Understanding Merton's words above, poet Emily Dickson describes a similar experience of being dealt ...

"The imperial thunderbolt,
That lays bare your naked soul."

Both Merton and Dickinson describe being under the pressure of a very great love.

Both describe experiencing thunderbolt meeting abyss.

I am right with them in experiencing the thunderbolt.

Amen.


CreditTasos Mansour:Unsplash
 

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