There are times when the interior journey is impeded by the refusal or inability to make an external journey. The outward journey may be the move toward another person to seek forgiveness or offer forgiveness; or the journey may be toward some inner place you are afraid to enter or reenter that is closing down your world and keeping you from surrendering to God’s providence and care. The outer journey is inexplicably entwined with the inner journey and vice versa.
And do I find You again
in words, did I order them right?
That order, what does it mean,
why is anything out of order, how?
Words lose their order
in the mind because the Word
is not received.
It is that receiving which orders the words that
order the mind that makes
You visible again.
We have failed the first Word,
and words without a beginning
are almost-words,
hints of what they are.
Write down the Word,
let it have its place
on the page
and all the words
will fall into sense,
and meaning
will no longer be a search
but a beginning.
—from the book Song of the Sparrow: Four Seasons of Prayer
by Murray Bodo, OFM
