As I was reading “The Friendship Book, 2017” on 14th February, Norah Sindon was sharing her thoughts on Words – how they have a certain power or lure that demand a second look – how they conjure up feelings , memories, emotions and even movement. I know exactly what she means.
As we have passed through Lent, the Passion, and the Easter celebrations, I have found so many evocative words – words that can be felt, experienced deeply and so become a reality. The word ‘passion’ for example: the harshness and energy can be felt and heard when it is pronounced. In contrast, the word ‘love’ has no hard consonants but breathes forth a gentle but intense calm. These words are ‘onomatopoeic’, that is they become what they express.
I once heard a priest describing “transubstantiation” in terms of onomatopoeia how words can change into reality, and in a hymn by Stephen Dean (c1994), we sing: ”Come, and be what you receive”.
The whole of the Easter Story has given us the reality of the BODY and BLOOD of Christ.
ALLELUIA!
I would like to share with you a poem I wrote when thinking/experiencing two words:
FIRE and WATER:
May my life be FIRE and WATER
Knowing the torment and passion of love
And the calm refreshment of reason.
Let it be full of contrasts:
Brightness—Shadow, Colour-Clarity
Warmth -Coolness
Energetic dance and Restful inactivity.
May my spirit be alive and active!
Fired by desire to transform and be purified
Yet content with stillness
And the often, drop-by-drop pace of change.
Let me hear the rushing effervescence of water
which holds the whole world in its embrace,
Glimpsing even above the heavens
the shimmering waters
Which fall to earth as gentle, life-giving rain.
Give me the keenness to penetrate the fire in the
centre of the earth and in my being
So that I burn with zeal for your Kingdom
radiating your love and compassion.
May my relationships be warm and comforting!
Deep and lasting like the pools and silent streams
of mysterious underground, undisturbed caverns.
YOU who hold the power of these elements
Forming them to create the beauty and wonder
of our world
Use them now again in me, that I might ever be
A fountain of living Water and a glowing tongue of Fire!
Sr. Yvonne Pepper, RNDM