Journal of Sacred Work

Photo compliments pf : www.panhala.net/Archive/Index.html 

For the Traveler
 
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
 
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
 
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
 
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
 
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
 
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
 
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
 
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
 
~ John O'Donohue ~(To Bless the Space Between Us)

This Saturday morning  my colleagues and I  are about to embark on a weeklong journey.   We are heading to the town of Flores, which is in the Peten region of Guatemala.  As participants in this pilgrimage we have been encouraged to experience the world through the eyes of the people we go to meet.

I am filled with anticipation and I pray for an openness to receive whatever may come, to give fully of myself and allow God to work through me.   I hope to journey within the  "territories of the spirit."  If you are interested in following our blog where we will be sharing our eperiences go to  http://www.stjoeblogs.org/internationaloutreach

A traveler’s journey does not necessarily require that we venture off to far away places.  A worthwhile path is where "the compass of your soul can guide you to the hidden places."  As I write this to you, I wonder where your journey might be leading you?  May you awaken to the fullness of your inner Beauty.

~liz Sorensen Wessel

                                                                                                                                 Unknown Photographer