There’s Fire in the Heart
Passion and Compassion Thrive
An Alive Human
Fire in the Heart haiku - Gurunam Khalsa (2003)
“Empty yourself continually in honor of the Incarnate Word who emptied himself with so much love for you (Phil.2:7).
Make your commitment to live in the practice of the most sincere, true and profound humility possible to you. ”
Many suns have passed since I was young and filled with unbounded enthusiasm. At that time, gatherings with friends centered around exploring issues like the feminine face of God, women’s spirituality, and our role in the Church. Though engaged in social justice work, the group also created opportunities for personal reflection and even solstice celebrations. Both summer and winter solstices held different energies. We all did too.
IMAGE: Unsplash/Isi Parente
Burnt into memory is one particular Summer Solstice when members of our group gathered in the large garden of a friend to celebrate this zenith moment of the year around a solstice fire. Did we know that jumping over the flames was supposed to bring us good luck and rid the soul of evil? That doing it three times would make the ritual even more powerful. And the higher the jump, the better?
As we partook in a potluck dinner together – each dish a reflection of the taste, skill and inventiveness of the individual cook – we reflected on the joy of being one despite a diversity in age, religious background, body type and sexual preference. We were simply a group of women, gathering to celebrate our value and role in society. With wild abandon, the fire jumping began. Oh, it felt good until one of us twisted her ankle and fell, luckily not burning herself or her clothes but twisting her ankle quite badly. Frenzied fun gave way to anxious concern as we rushed to attend to her needs.
Jacob Peter Gowy's The Flight of Icarus (1635–1637)
Hints of the Icarus myth invade my mind: Icarus, though advised by his father to neither fly too high to the sun nor too close to the seas to escape imprisonment, instead soared high and beyond, so close to the sun that the beeswax holding his wings together melted from the heat. Perhaps it was fear that motivated him or a sense of his own strength and will but regardless, his actions were guided from within and not from a place of trust in his father.
Perhaps there is a bit of Icarus in all of us. A very wise Sister Shirley Tapp, csj once told me that the flute cannot be played unless it is hollow and allows the breath of God to move through it. Aspiring to fly high like Icarus, fueled by our own will and desires or jumping over the Fire of the Sun/Son can have unfortunate outcomes. Instead, on Summer Solstice and each day we wait for the Son-rise that warms and ignites the Holy Spark of Love within us.
- Susan Hendricks, CSJ Associate | Winnipeg, MB
REFERENCES: 1) Fire in the Heart haiku - Gurunam Khalsa (2003). Haiku Heart: Vol. 1. West Palm Beach: FL: HeartLuck Global Publishing. 2) Maxim 3 as quoted in https://www.sjabr.org/about/congregation-of-st-joseph/maxims.
