The theme this year is Freedom.
https://alpinefellowship.com/visual-art-prize
This is the second time he has been shortlisted. Well done Greg!
For everyone young or older
For everyone of all ages
Healthy or ill
Happy or sad
who walked this way
A blessing upon them
For every person
In plane
Microlight
Or balloon,
Who has ever flown overhead
A blessing upon them
For every person in van
Or car
In bus
On bike
Or tractor
who has driven past
A blessing upon them
For every creature
Dog
Horse
Cat
Or beetle
Who has passed by
A blessing upon them
For every insect
Spider
Moth
Fly
Or ant
that has scuttled nearby
A blessing upon them
For every winged creature
Bird
Butterfly
Or dragonfly
A blessing upon them
For all living things
That have been drawn to this place
whether past
Or present
Or still to come
A blessing upon them
A poem for all those in intense suffering.
With God, how far can you get above suffering, I
ask?
How high can you get above pain?
God answers:
As far as the sky and as near as the breath,
You can enter that Peace
of Loving Transcendent Mystery
And there find a Peace beyond all knowing.
How wide is that Peace, I ask?
Why, it is as vast as the oceans
And way beyond all the stars
That sparkle through the Universe.
It is as huge as the sea is to a raindrop.
It is as comforting as an endless tender hug.
It is as gentle as a fleecy coat
of the finest spun lambs wool.
It is always and everywhere
Forever sparkling to bless and touch you.
Amen
Oh Holy Eucharist live in us now and forever
Oh Lord, You have promised to be with us always. Your Presence in the Eucharist ensures this Truth. If we only but receive You once, that once is enough for ever. We give thanks for the Oneness and the true life You bring to us. We are nothing without You. Amen
Oh Holy Eucharist lead us to Heaven
And at the end of days may You lead us toward You, that we might fully reside in a state of Grace with You and be embraced in the totality of Love, with You, in Heaven. Yet until that time, may we touch Heaven in transcendent moments and feel the energy of love blessing our lives, helping us to transform our lives so that we continue to walk the Path of Love that You guide us on, by Your living Presence.
Oh Holy Eucharist teach us your Truth
For You are Truth itself and the Light in you reveals that Truth to all who choose to see and hear it. May we hear you, graciously hear you! May we see You, graciously see You! May the Truth ring out in our hearts and so inspire us to live a life that reflects Your Truth. May we always speak Your Truth upon our lips. Grant us the Wisdom and the Knowledge to discern Your Truth and live life, in Your Way, enlivened by Your most Holy Presence in our lives!
Oh Holy Eucharist may we live with you in Oneness and wonder all the days of our lives
Oh Holy Eucharist may we serve as you serve
In receiving the Eucharist within our being, may we be inspired and determined to serve as you serve Lord, using all in our power to grow in love and genuineness, reaching out to others in need, not only those easy to help, but those who challenge us and enable us to grow in love.
Oh Holy Eucharist may we be filled with your light
In receiving Christ into ourselves may we be filled with His radiant Light, the Light of the whole World and may we be like the Lamp Stand, burning bright for all to see His Light within us, radiating out to touch the World.
I bless the energy of this place
I bless the energy of this place
May every slight that was ever made
Be restored right here
May every hurt that ever was
Be restored to right, right here
May every curse be undone and the energy
Restored to right, right here
May every wound that ever was
Be comforted by love and
Restored right here, right now
Both past and present, future hurts
May all be restored to good right here
Oh Holy Eucharist may we carry You in our hearts
May we be open to receive in absolute fullness, the truth of the Holy Eucharist, that we might wholly recognise the Divine presence who has come to live with us and be in us. And carry that joy, truth, blessing in our hearts in every moment, aware of this incredibly sacred gift that makes of our hearts and bodies, a temple for the Lord.
I bless the people of this place
I bless the people of this place
All those who have passed by
Or touched this space in some transient way
Or live here right now
Or in time yet to come
Whatever turmoil or hurt they have brought or will bring
May all energy be restored here to right
May the blessing of comfort and restoration find them,
Whether passing by or long gone from the Earth or yet to arrive
May each hurt and wounding
Be bound gently with love
That the energy here
Remain peaceful and pure
Let us be truly humble in our approach and reverence to the most Holy Eucharist, for who could not be humbled by the living Presence of all that is, yet who has come to be with us in simple fare, that we may be one with Him?
Oh Holy Eucharist, the precious Word Incarnate
Live in us
The Word of God, when spoken, brings knowledge, resounds truly in the Heart, brings joy and gladness to bear, even in the most unexpected and forsaken places. The Word of God is Jesus Christ. His message helps us always. His Word is always true. In accepting the Eucharist, we receive that Word into our whole being, where its truth can grow and guide us always on a safe path, if we follow it!
Oh Holy Eucharist, Lamb of God,
Live in us
The Lamb of God knows suffering intimately. He has known Life and Death, Resurrection and Ascension. He brings deep knowing of our situations that we struggle with. He is Love and Mercy, forever more.
He brings hope and renewal, help with forgiveness, new life to the hopeless and the hurting. He tenderly holds us, for He knows our pain and He carries His wounds for all time, come to bring healing to us all.
Oh Holy Eucharist, Prince of Peace
Live in us
Jesus Peace is a Peace not of the world. This was His promise, that He gave us His Peace, His gift to us who remain in the world. For the World knows not this Peace, It is chaotic and difficult to live in. But Christ’s Peace is greater still and is possible to find even in the depth of suffering snd unimaginable pain. Truly, when we receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist, His Peace is upon us and will see us through every suffering we ever experience. Let us only turn to Him and remember His gift of Peace.
Oh Holy Eucharist, Hope of all the Earth
Live in us
Whilst God is in the World, His living presence here with us, there must always be hope for all the Earth; hope of healing, hope of light, hope of truth, hope of safe passage, hope of miracles, hope of blessings, hope of life after death. What incredible Hope He brings!
My journey from wellness to profound disability
Has been complete for many decades.
It has forced me to accept the frequent repeated emptying of myself,
Captured by paralysis that stultifies my physical life
As it steals away my most precious hopes and dreams.
Into this distorted self, this frozen, statuesque body,
I have found a sense of freedom to survive
And more than this, soar.
It feels like I am in a box, trapped within a box, trapped within a box…
The Russian Doll has nothing on me.
Despite the physical entrapment,
I feel strangely, internally semi-fluid.
Here I am a free poet, a deep thinker.
I touch the stars with my mind.
I am coalesced with the whole universe.
I am me in all purity of being.
No boundary here can stop my soul
From soaring with the stardust,
Across the midnight sky
Nor keep me from plunging into the deepest ocean,
Searching for sparkling treasure.
Here my creativity is unleashed,
My mind unfurled to float where it will.
The bizarre nature of my life continues,
Whilst I cling on to my essential being.
I choose life and all the freedom my spirit is.
There is a unique insight that comes
When literally no plans are possible to make,
For No direction is known or knowable.
The future is impossible to predict
Or channel in your own direction.
You are at the Mercy of freedom, in it’s truest sense,
You live eternally in the now of the present moment.
It frees you from the expectations of others,
That would bind you away from your own unique presence.
Your life shines bigger, brighter, expands,
As you realise more of your self,
For that is all that is available to you.
Your life, your breathe, your environment
Becomes sharper, cleaner, more lovely.
Time is slowed.
Not knowing if you will be able move,
If you will be able to eat,
If you will be able to think
Or speak
Or remember
Or not,
If your pain will be off the scale
Or higher still than that,
You cannot be anything but present to yourself.
There is a certain freedom that comes from this,
For if you float in a state of silent, unmoving, empty bliss,
Where nothing can bombard you,
Peace, strangely, comes to reside in you.
In the oddest of ways you become free to not worry,
For nothing is possible.
You cannot feel helpless
If you have forgotten all the things
That should have been, could have been
Or even definitely are important.
The smallest details come into focus;
The song of a lone robin, sitting high upon a tree top,
Trilling to its hearts content,
The gliding Red Kite’s beauty, soaring overhead,
Fills the vast, empty skies with its awesome grace.
The incredible discovery,
That a tiny red and black spotted ladybird is making a home
In a hollowed out stem
Fills you with unexpected happiness.
Stillness and beauty
Become everything you will ever need.
Oh Holy Eucharist, Son of Man
Live in us
Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. He is born into humanity, yet He transcends Time and Space. He has authority over all the Earth, gifted by His Father in Heaven. He therefore has the Power to heal and the authority to forgive. Miracles then become possible. All is possible with the Son of Man, who exists both in Time and Space and beyond Time and Space. PRAISE GOD INDEED!
Oh Holy Eucharist, Grace from on High
Live in us
Jesus Christ whose presence is in the living Holy Eucharist is surely an incredible grace from on High, a sacred mystery that can only come from God. And resounds in our hearts and is love incarnate, here with us. There are no words to encompass this Truth! All we can do is give thanks and praise for this miracle.
Oh Holy Eucharist, the Light of the World,
Live in us
Jesus Christ himself tells us that He is the Light of the World
How can we live without light? We all need light for life. Life is not possible with out the light and Jesus knows this. He is the Light. He is life itself and He has come to shine that light in the world that we may all be drawn to him and receive His sustenance, for the Light comforts, the Light restores, the Light illuminates, the Light heals, the Light blesses and enables growth. The Light shines radiant and true for all to see. And reveals in that Light that Jesus is the Son of God, come to reunite us with Love itself, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
When Jesus tells us that He is the Light of the World, when we see and know this to be true it sets a sparks inside our hearts on fire. Our own small light responds.
In Him there is no darkness. In Him we can know that all He does and all He says is true. For Light cannot lie. It only illuminates and reveals and what it reveals to us is the Word of God, made manifest in the world and that Word shines brightly in our hearts and sings sweetly upon our lips. The light in Christ blesses, transfigured, shines, heals, brings goodness and purity, hope and love. And the feeling it brings is joy, upliftment, trust, happiness, is all that is beautiful and true.
And so we give thanks for the Light of The World that blesses us and shows us the true path to follow, lit by God Himself, who is all goodness and whose light is so pure that it can be recognised and seen, especially in the darkest of places!
Live in us
Mercy is all. Mercy heals all. Mercy is pure Love. It flows from the Heart of Love and is seen most radically upon the Cross of Our Lord. His Heart, broken open by the Spear, symbolises love reaching out beyond time and space, beyond death. Jesus is the embodiment of all Mercy, holding us and saving us, forgiving us and freeing us for life eternal, in oneness with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We give thanks then, that even as physically broken as Jesus was, in intense agony unto death, yet still He loved us and was Mercy for us all for evermore, the Power of which enabled Him to pick up His life once more at the incredible moment of the Resurrection. For love returns to love more powerfully than it is given out and a life that serves, that loves in utter totality and oneness with the Father and the Spirit, cannot but be saved! Thus Mercy was released into all time and we were all given a path of healing and forgiveness in our own life time. Praise God indeed! All we need do is open our hearts to receive the blessing of Mercy!
This is a beautiful, peaceful contemplation accompanied by Greg on guitar. May it bless and uplift you. “His Love is like the morning…..” ...
