As the Holy Flows Free

When the Holy Thaws

And god is always there,

if you feel wounded.

He kneels over this earth

like a divine medic,

 

and His love thaws

the holy in

us

–St. Teresa of Avila

(Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West translated by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 291)

These are the last two stanzas of the poem “When the Holy Thaws” by St. Teresa of Avila. God tends our wounds “like a divine medic.” God’s medicine is His love which “thaws the holy in us.” St. Teresa of Avila assumes there is “the holy” in us. And since the holy needs thawing, it may be frozen. The unfreezing of the holy is implied in the poem’s first stanza, “. . . when the mountain stream flows, when the holy thaws” (ibid. p.290).

What would freeze the holy? Our cynicism? Our pseudo-sophisticated, modern view of the world? Perhaps both, and more. The pain of our emotional wounds freezes our feelings. All of them. Love included. When God gently presses the doorbell to our hearts, it resonates like a Tibetan bell awakening our awareness of the holy within us. The divine sound vibrates in our hearts, breaking the ice. We hear the sound of streams flowing, the sound of heart-love glowing.

Inspired by “When the Holy Thaws” I wrote the following poem:

As the Holy Flows Free

streams of liquid fire

flow from my heart

turning night to light

as the holy flows free          

Photo Credit: Photo by Sebastian Brinkenfeldt at Flickr Creative Commons.