Whatever you are carrying, love carries it first.

A blessing for the weary pilgrim.

Evening stroll in the German country side, © Cloister Notes.

Dear fellow pilgrim,

Many of you have connected with last week’s blessing from the roads of my homecoming to Germany and those thin places it holds, when one is on a pilgrimage home.

Thank you so much for your kind words and comments 🙏. I am humbled and glad to learn that my stumbling gives words to yours also.

And indeed, the in-between place of last week has opened up into some new pastures. My husband Chuck has recovered well from a cardiac episode back home—something that was scary to witness from an ocean away. He is now with his mother, who, just as mine, has entered Alzheimer land. And he was able to work towards some solution in her care setup, which had been the cause of so much heartbreak—metaphorically, and also quite literally.

And since we both, an ocean apart, are still trying to find words for what is happening in our lives, I looked back at last year’s pilgrimage through the German countryside we did as a family.

I found this quite fitting blessing by Chuck, reminding us all that—whatever we carry, personally and as a people together in times like these—Love Eternal carries it first.

So our midweek-ish blessing reaches you today from the back country of the former East Germany—written by Chuck during last year’s family pilgrimage, re-edited now while he is visiting his childhood home in Florida, and illustrated with my images.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting our Cloister Notes—a letter for dancing monks, weary pilgrims, and wounded healers.

With much love,

Almut

---

What ever it is
you are carrying
love carries it first.
love incarnate
grace eternal
in-dwelling word
always and “immer”

Amen

AF

Our child has been reading bible stories and through them has come to ask her own existential questions.

What is death? Will Mama and Papa always be with me?

When I am alone, will they come find me? How can I be both alone and safe?

And even though I know the answers are more complex than the questions, I still assure her that we will always be there. Not simply because I want to comfort her. But because I know that this balance of safety and fear, of questions and answers, is essential to allow her to become the person she is called to be.

Muddy roads at dusk towards Manor house Rensow, where we found kind hospitality and a place of retreat. Our hosts have renovated, with much care and love, many old houses that have lain neglected in East German times. © Cloister Notes 2024.

It was with these thoughts that I ran across this snippet of a poem from Almut:

“Whatever it is
you are carrying,
love eternal
carries it first.”

And I was cast back into my own need for safety and freedom.

I want to say yes to so many good things, and then I am overwhelmed by their demands.

Love eternal carried this first. And love eternal carries it even now, for me.

When I feel betrayed and abandoned, impatient or overwhelmed.

Love eternal carried this first and carries it now, for me and for us all.

And so, traveler, for all your cares and comforts and fears and feast days, here is a blessing from the one who carries the universe — and also our small life — in her heart:

In trial and triumph

in exhaustion and embrace

in despair and delight

know this:

you are held always in the

warm embrace of Love eternal.

Whatever you carry,

The pain of time passed

Or of the whole world;

She carried it first,

and shepherds it gently

into a new becoming.

The heart of the universe

is not cold stardust

but the blazing compassion of

love.

Love eternal carries it first,

even now,

Even here,

and gently

She holds your becoming.

—CH

Chuck, with Almut & little one.

Spring flowers on our table lovingly arranged by our host at Manor house Rensow, somewhere in the German countryside, © Cloister Notes 2024.

PS: If you can, leave a heart, a word or a line which resonated with you in the comments, so we know you have been here :-)

From the archive

In Between: A Midweek Blessing from the Road

🌿 (Mid)Weekly Blessing: Weeding and Wondering

To your broken heart

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