Breathing and Silence

Breathing

life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body

silence is a voice, our voice
silence is a body, our body

life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body
I invite you to breathe

I invite you to listen to the silence

                                                  Jaume Plensa

One of the artists whose work I came to enjoy last year in New Orleans, has a sculpture called “Breathing.”  This sculpture is on the BBC building in London was commissioned as a

memorial for war and foreign correspondents killed on the job.  At 10pm during the evening news a beam of light can be seen to shoot up into the sky.  The sculpture is composed of words which spiral down.  The words and image evoke themes of speech and silence, life and death; these themes journey with us from Ash Wednesday to Easter.  Our Lenten journey takes us through death to a time of rebirth and new life.  During this journey from ashes to cross to new life we are reminded to take time to slow down and reconnect with God.  We are invited to enter into the silence of the presence of God.  Psalm 62 invites us into a time of waiting, a time of hoping, a time of silence and expectation that God will break forth a new into the world.  The writer of the Psalm in silence is waiting for the God who embodies salvation, embodies love and constancy.  The psalmist waits for God to come and redeem him from trouble.   

¹ For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from the Holy One comes my salvation.
² God alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall never be shaken. 

⁵ For God alone my soul waits in silence,
   for my hope is from God.
⁶ God alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

⁸ Trust in God at all times, O people;
   pour out your heart before the Holy One;
   God is a refuge for us.

                                            Psalm 62

Breathe and enjoy the silence,