The Earthly Paradise, Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1607-1608
Prayer is the portal open to Heaven:
Offer your thanks for blessedness.
Practice forgiveness, seventy times seven;
fling purest love in every direction.
Prayer’s to the spirit as water to the body.
Silenced by dust and dry, Anna drinks her fill,
grateful for this blessing—sweet, cool, and hearty,
body and spirit renewed at the well.
These are the new and ancient sacraments
daily celebrated by all who dwell
in grace beside the clear spring of happiness,
living waters from the everlasting well.
From the village that surrounds
the lifegiving spring, the wise go forth
at dawn in bliss, for each has found
her place in Creation, his purpose on earth.
Work has a joyous and natural rhythm.
Ah! The clock strikes. For three minutes hourly,
all labor ceases: first, one for the anthem;
then one for the silence; last, one for the peace.
These are the new and ancient sacraments
daily celebrated by all who dwell
in grace beside the clear spring of happiness,
living waters from the everlasting well.
Once we sacrificed to the
universe; from the soul
of our fear we gave tedious,
mad, and merciless toil.
At the well Anna prayed
and heard the Creator call,
“Love, dance, and celebrate;
“Drink from the living well.”
Aged and wise, even she is uncertain
how many seasons on earth she has dwelt…
yet tonight Anna dances ‘til the star-studded curtain
pales, and metallic beams silver the well.
Here is true alchemy, beautiful, sacred:
all things are made of love; all things below, above.
Gone are illusions of space… separation…
in their place, transformation of emptiness to love.
These are the new and ancient sacraments
daily celebrated by all who dwell
in love beside the clear spring of happiness,
bathed in living waters. As above,
so below, on every road, in all dimensions,
love alone remains.
As above, so below:
love alone remains.
Sister Alma Rose Has the Last Word 