The Mystical Boat

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” —Matthew 6:16–18

That particular Wednesday has arrived yet again: like clockwork. So, I’ve taken Sister Wendy Beckett’s The Gaze of Love: Meditations on Art & Spiritual Transformation off the shelf: like clockwork.

The Mystical Boat by Odilon Redon is the first painting Sister Wendy has us contemplating. I like the textures imparted by the pastels and chalk on the toothy paper, the primacy of color, and the surprising sense of peace that gets conveyed despite those bright, assertive colors.

Here’s what Sister Wendy has to say, in part:

The sea is not still for the one who prays, it heaves and is turbulent, but the tossing of the boat is part of the mystic journey. It is the outward stress that makes the surrender of trust vital. The sail alone catches the full brightness of God, and it is that brightness, overhead, not tangible, that dominates the picture. But the brightness blinds the sailor, she cannot see where the Spirit is taking her, and she leans back, at rest, content in His spiritual choice. It is not in the minutiae of daily living that she abandons choice, but in her prayer. The daily living is the choppy sea, but her prayer is the deep faithful blue of the boat, the bright loving gold of its sail, all that bears her forward in a power not her own.

I think I finally understand that prayer is about the present moment.