Contemporary American artist D. Eleinne Basa gives us this evocative painting, titled: Spring Morning. The trees are filling out, the stream is free of ice and the fog limits our view beyond a few feet. What do I feel as I step into this morning scene?
My science authority says: "Advection fog forms when warm air moves over a colder surface, like snow. More common is radiation fog which is caused when a cold air mass moves in over land that has been warmed during the day. Either way, fog is caused when warm air if cooled and condensation occurs near the surface."
Fog is symbolic of a deep human place. "I'm all in a fog" can be much harder to fix than just needing my morning coffee. Fog suggests that the way is not clear. Fog is kind of inner gray-zone of being between one place and another. Fog is a place of inner confusion - like the person who walks into a dark room patting down the walls looking for the light.
Symbolically, fog means obscurity: uncertainty, lacking in light, murky, concealed, not clear to my understanding, unknown or unnoticed, veiled.
Saints matter in the Catholic spiritual life. Problem is, for many people, saints only edify or impress. Someone gushed to Dorothy day, "O Dorothy, you're a living saint," She quickly responded, "Don't dismiss me so easily." Then we're told we're all supposed to be saints. But what does that mean? To be a saint can only mean to be myself. So, becoming holy or being saved means finding out who I am and discovering my true self. Some weeks ago we referenced Rev. Al Sharpton who said, "The two most important days in my life are, the day I was born; the second being the day I discover why I was born."
Some people start to discover who they are when they retire and no longer define themselves by what they do to make a living. Or they discover who they are after a divorce, or when the kids are grown and move away and they re-encounter a spouse for the first time in a long time, or when they get free of a life-stealing addiction, or when looking in the mirror and realizing deeply: "I'm not 20, 30, 40 or even 50 anymore." One pensive California woman mused on the meaning of her life after her high-end home burned to the ground in this winter's fires.
A young fellow joined a monastery, and after some months, long enough for the others to get to know him, the novice master said to the monk wanna-be, "But why did you come here with such a crowd?" Meaning: Why did you join the monastery bringing with you with a crowd of old voices telling you who you are, or what it is you're looking for, or what you have to believe. These are the voices of teachers, parents, spouses friends and associates, clergy, politicians, authors - not all of whom spoke truthfully, insightfully, objectively or kindly. Or the voices of those who have told me what I must own to live happily, and so I carry the attachments not only to things but to ideas that need to be un-learned or dropped. St. Paul writes:
"When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child Now that I am a man I have finished with childish things." 1Corinthians 13:11
I might have a good think on this in Lenten-silence and discover God in the fog. But remember, fog burns off. And as the fog burns off I may be surprised where I eventually find myself. I may even find myself nearer to where I set out to be or need to be. Emphasis on the words need to be.
My science authority says: "Advection fog forms when warm air moves over a colder surface, like snow. More common is radiation fog which is caused when a cold air mass moves in over land that has been warmed during the day. Either way, fog is caused when warm air if cooled and condensation occurs near the surface."
Fog is symbolic of a deep human place. "I'm all in a fog" can be much harder to fix than just needing my morning coffee. Fog suggests that the way is not clear. Fog is kind of inner gray-zone of being between one place and another. Fog is a place of inner confusion - like the person who walks into a dark room patting down the walls looking for the light.
Symbolically, fog means obscurity: uncertainty, lacking in light, murky, concealed, not clear to my understanding, unknown or unnoticed, veiled.
Saints matter in the Catholic spiritual life. Problem is, for many people, saints only edify or impress. Someone gushed to Dorothy day, "O Dorothy, you're a living saint," She quickly responded, "Don't dismiss me so easily." Then we're told we're all supposed to be saints. But what does that mean? To be a saint can only mean to be myself. So, becoming holy or being saved means finding out who I am and discovering my true self. Some weeks ago we referenced Rev. Al Sharpton who said, "The two most important days in my life are, the day I was born; the second being the day I discover why I was born."
Some people start to discover who they are when they retire and no longer define themselves by what they do to make a living. Or they discover who they are after a divorce, or when the kids are grown and move away and they re-encounter a spouse for the first time in a long time, or when they get free of a life-stealing addiction, or when looking in the mirror and realizing deeply: "I'm not 20, 30, 40 or even 50 anymore." One pensive California woman mused on the meaning of her life after her high-end home burned to the ground in this winter's fires.
A young fellow joined a monastery, and after some months, long enough for the others to get to know him, the novice master said to the monk wanna-be, "But why did you come here with such a crowd?" Meaning: Why did you join the monastery bringing with you with a crowd of old voices telling you who you are, or what it is you're looking for, or what you have to believe. These are the voices of teachers, parents, spouses friends and associates, clergy, politicians, authors - not all of whom spoke truthfully, insightfully, objectively or kindly. Or the voices of those who have told me what I must own to live happily, and so I carry the attachments not only to things but to ideas that need to be un-learned or dropped. St. Paul writes:
"When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child Now that I am a man I have finished with childish things." 1Corinthians 13:11
I might have a good think on this in Lenten-silence and discover God in the fog. But remember, fog burns off. And as the fog burns off I may be surprised where I eventually find myself. I may even find myself nearer to where I set out to be or need to be. Emphasis on the words need to be.
