Some liken the Holy Spirit to a shy and gentle bird

who must be approached quietly and slowly,

lest he be frightened and fly away.

Others liken the Holy Spirit to a ravening hawk. . .

my experiences have been more hawklike than dovelike.

But considerable violence is needed to pull my fragments together,

to join sunside and nightside;

it’s a wildly athletic act to place the mind into the heart

and a lot of muscles get pulled.

                                                                                                  Madeleine L’Engle,

                                                                                                 The Irrational Season

                                                                                                 The Crosswicks Journal

Today my husband and I attended the choral Communion service at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan where Madeleine L’Engle was a writer-in-residence. She believed that her fiction, some for children, reflected her faith that the universe has meaning.

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Living Lines