The above photographs of Lily flowers reveal the inner and outer patterns of the flowers only partially. I moved around the flower to see if I can capture the inner and outer details of the flowers in one photo.
This experience got me thinking about how so much is covered or hidden of the outer or the inner in all these photos.
I wonder whether it was providential or incidental that I happened to notice the Christmas star put up in the neighbour's house after this. One side of the star was fully visible, but not the rear or the inner sides!
That triggered a thought about what might have been the inner experiences of Mary and Jospeh, when Mary and Joseph received the visitation from God about what were to happen in their lives.
Mary received a message from the visitation of an angel: 'You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus' (Luke 1:31). Mary was greatly troubled by this statement and kept pondering over this(v29).
Joseph who was betrothed to Mary having known that Mary was with a child 'not wanting to disgrace her desired to put her away secretly' (Matt1.19). But when he considered this, an angel of the Lord 'appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife..'(v20).
A troubled Mary and fearful Joseph!
An inner experience of significant nature as against the usual convergence of a marriage and childbirth thereafter. The usual pathway to family life was interrupted by something extraordinary.
Mary's response to process her inner state of wonder and anxiety was to meet with Elizabeth, whose baby in the womb leaped for joy on hearing the greetings of Mary. Elizabeth greeted Mary by saying, 'Blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfilment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. (Luke 1:45). What happened then was the song of the Magnificat (v 46-55), with which Mary celebrated the visit with Elizabeth. Mary's was a song of joy and thanksgiving, 'my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour'. A troubled Mary became joyful and stayed with Elizabeth for three months before returning to her home. (v56).
Elizabeth in 'crying out' loudly to comfort Mary said: 'Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb'(v42). Elizabeth was ready to receive the announcement of Mary being pregnant with the child Jesus, because Elizabeth too was waiting for the coming of Jesus, the One about whom the prophets spoke in the past.
There were inner resonances of joy and peace between Elizabeth and Mary. Mary was moved to say, 'For He has regard for the humble state of his bondslave' (v48). Mary's response to the angel of the Lord when she received the salutation and news about conceiving a son was, 'Behold the bondslave of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word'(v38).
I find the response of Elizabeth extraordinarily different from any usual response when a disturbing experience is shared. When Mary entered the house of Elizabeth and heard Mary's greeting, 'Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit' (v41). I do not often come across people who while faced with a disturbing situation can transcend the analysis of the situation and get enlightened by the eternal significance of what had happened. Elizabeth was hopefully well versed with the prophetic utterance about Jesus who was to come as the saviour. She herself being pregnant with a cild, while advanced in age (Luke1:7) after having been barren all those years, would have been normally a preoccupied person with self absorption of excitement or anticipation or still grieving on account of not having had a child when she was younger.
Elizabeth kept herself in seclusion for five months (v 24) and since Zachariah her husband was made mute (silent) by the angel at the time, when the revelation of the birth of a son was announced by the angel tor him (v20), Elizabeth spent those months bereft of any social support. I even wonder whether she was aware of the utterance of the angel of the Lord to Zachariah, as to who her son would be: 'And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit of power of Elijah, ....so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord' (v17).
A barren woman becoming pregnant when advanced in age; her husband loosing his speech while performing the temple rites, being required to stay secluded by volition or due to some other reason, was filled with the Holy Spirit with a discerning ability to know Mary as the Mother of Jesus who was to come- a cluster of unusual experiences in the life of a woman.
Both Elizabeth and Mary, testified to the grace of God in their lives. Elizabeth although carried the usual challenges of pregnancy in an advanced age, became a psychological mid wife in helping Mary to deliver the Magnificat that was formed in Mary's soul. Mary was a troubled person when she arrived to meet Elizabeth.
Think of the wisdom of transcendence that Elizabeth offered to Mary that Mary could become lighter in her soul to receive the Magnificat which since then is the oft quoted blessing recited during church services.
It is for this reason I consider Elizabeth's social isolation of five months as a season of solitude in her life!
Zacharias living in silence and Elizabeth in solitude give us an impression of how solemn experiences take place in the lives of those who seek after God. God uses different means to prepare those who seek after God through whom God intends to bring a message of consolation in difficult times. It is for this reason, we are required to view some form of suffering or denial or aloneness or a feeling of being 'left out' as an formative journey for an inner readiness to behold the sacred truths of God and be a carrier of it to others.
I remember late Dr Frank Garlick telling me once that it was when he was laid down with a 'coin lesion' in his one lung, suspected to be malignant, that he had time to think about the latter years in his professional career. It was then a thought occurred to him about discontinuing his regular work at CMC Vellore as professor of surgery and spending time in mission hospitals to support young doctors in their surgical work. After the surgery, when it turned out to be non- malignant, his resolve to nurture that thought intensified. He left CMC in 1970 to spend the next five years visiting doctors and medical students which led to the formation of the Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India fifty years ago.
It was an illness, an operation and a season of convalescence which brought an awareness of a call to do something different from the usual! Referring to those five years Dr Garlick mentioned of it as an experience of 'moving out of a shell' to discover opportunities beyond.
On returning to Australia, he was invited to establish the department of Emergency medicine in the Royal Brisbane and Women's hospital, for which he had to go to Britain to get training and receive accreditation from the Royal college in London. During the next five years he established a residency programme in Emergency medicine which led to the commencement of training programme for doctors in Emergency medicine. At the peek of that experience, he felt the call to to go to Patan Hospital at Kathmandu, a hospital run by United Mission to Nepal, where he spent five years to develop the surgical speciality to start a post graduate training programme in General surgery for Nepalese medical graduates. He kept visiting Nepal annually for a while and received an award from the King of Nepal for his 'meritorious service', a unique experience of honour.
A call to have a new optic to look at life in the context of opportunities beyond the natural career path for a professor of surgery dawned on him while he was unwell! He once told me that his illness was a messenger to discover a larger purpose in his life! Dr Mrs Val Garlick recalled Frank's pilgrim journey as an experience which enriched them as a family.
A barren woman in advanced years pregnant with a child, and a virgin receiving the promise of a son, are unusual experiences of surprise and shock.
Elizabeth and Mary received the experiences with an open mind and a willing heart.
The solitude that Elizabeth chose for several months comes to me as another unusual experience in the life of a couple at a time when a significant event was about to take place in their lives.
Zacharias' received his speech back at the time of the circumcision of the child, born to them, whom both Elizabeth and Zacharias' chose to call as John against the customary practice of calling a male child after the father (Luke 1:64). It was following this turning point in their lives, when they chose the message received from God to call him John, the people around them kept wondering 'What then this child will turn out to be'?(v66). The prophecy of Zacharias', after having been filled with Holy SpirIt, recorded in Luke 1: 68-79 is a testimony to the fruits of long period of silence in his life, after the angel announced about the son who would be given to them. Zacahrias' song of thanksgiving beginning with praise to God and recollection of God's plan for salvation for Israel, ended in the following climax: 'And you child, will be called the prophet of the most high, for you will go to prepare His ways, to give people knowledge of His salvation by the forgiveness of their sins,...to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death' (v76-79).
The Magnificat of Mary and prophecy of Zacharias' are two cardinal Biblical passages given to us in our faith journey to get a glimpse of the inner response to a deeper consciousness of God in one's life. For Mary, who felt disturbed at the news of about to be the mother of Jesus, the deeper movement of God in her life occurred during her visit to Elizabeth. Zacharias' experienced God's visitation in his life while being at the temple for dedicating the first born child to God on the eight day.
A childless couple became the parents while being advanced in years. Their son was to become the John the Baptist, the forerunner announcing the coming of Jesus to be the saviour. John later got imprisoned for speaking about the immorality that Herod practiced in his life (Mark 6:14-29). He was beheaded to please a girl who danced before Herod at her request. It looked as if Zacharias' and Elizabeth needed an unusual preparation time to receive their son, and see him preaching repentance and baptising people to make them ready to receive Jesus, the saviour. Later to loose him for ever, on account of the cruelty of the ruler of the nation, who on request of a dancing girl beheaded John!It is difficult to conclude if Zacahrias' and Elizabeth were alive at the time when John was beheaded
What is striking to the contemplative enquirer is the prelude of silence of Zacharias' for several months and the solitude of Elizabeth for five months during her pregnancy. They were to face the experience of their son living 'in the desert until the day of his public appearance (Luke 1:80). John said of himself at the beginning of his public ministry, 'I am the voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said' (John 1:23). This was his response when faced with a question, 'Who are you', paused to him by priests and Levites( v19).
The spiritual exercise of silence and solitude are contemplative experiences that some followers of Jesus of Nazareth practice to behold the mystery of God in their life.
Late Dr Stanley Jones who established Satal ashram, was a regular speaker for the annual Maramon convention in the nineteen sixties. It was his habit to be in silence and solitude for about two weeks prior to the convention. A bishop, while receiving him on arrival for the convention noticed the radiance on his face, and described it as the 'transfigured face'. That was one external indication of the effect of communion with God.
The messages which Dr Jones gave moved and changed lives. I remember how listening to him helped some people to turn to God and free themselves from their dependency on alcohol. One such person told me how the craze for alcohol vanished, while listening to the preaching of the love God shown by the father in the parable of the prodigal son.
Dr Jones conducted retreats for people who took new responsibilities in church or organisations. Three priests chosen to become Bishops in a church spent five days in retreat with Dr Jones, for which he took a preparation time of two weeks to be in silence and solitude. One Bishop mentioned about the sacred and solemn experience because Dr Jones was among them, as one who radiated the teachings of Jesus in a humble and loving way. 'His words were like the words of Jesus sermon on the mount and his way of ministry was how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples'- this was what the Bishop said after his consecration.
There is a renewal that most people experience from the practice of silence and solitude, if it is set apart to seek communion with God. Rev Henry Nouwen referred to silence as the language of God.
Elijah was in a desperate situation fearing for his life, when he went to the mountain Horeb to live in a cave, to receive God's word for his life. We read in I kings 19:11-13, 'And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking pieces of the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a sound of gentle blowing... he went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here Elijah ?'.
The silence of God and the whisper of His voice is audible when there is outer and inner silence !
The inner orientation of silence is a listening habit which can lead us to feel the voice from within, where God speaks in a whisper.
The photographs of the Lilies do not reveal the outer and inner in their entirety. The flowers are lot more than what the photos could capture. One requires to move around the flower to observe and get the details of the flower.
We need a tour outward and inward to get to know the entirety of our being! In our hurry we live knowing ourselves only in part.
Zacahrias' experienced silence and Elizabeth solitude, both of which changed their orientation to receive their son as John and offer consent to follow his vocation to be the 'voice in the wilderness'. Elizabeth following her solitude ministered to Mary who came to her 'disturbed'!
Silence and Solitude are the pathways for intimacy with God.
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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