One Sunday evening, I sat down with my friends Peggy and Carl talking about such a corner. "There," I said, "is my thin space!" I had to explain a thin space as opposed to a thick space. They were intrigued. "Thick places" are full of clutter which Eric Weiner describes so aptly. In my imagination, this is what I had envisioned. So I contacted a priest who had fashioned a similar design and adapted it for a small community in Louisiana. I am very proud of this simple achievement, equally grateful to the people of the area who put my inspiration into action.
I like open spaces where the divine dances to the delight of those who have eyes to see. It is amazing how a person can imagine what a scene would look like and then, voila! I think it is possible to create such environments even in our own homes or backyards. Fix one's eyes on the holy and strive forward. When I spoke with my friends that day, I quoted St. Paul. Here is the wisdom as we look at this beautiful shrine in honor of Jesus and his mother:
"We do not lose heart because our inner being is renewed each day even though our body is being destroyed at the same time. The present burden of our trial is light enough and earns for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. We do not fix our gaze on what is seen but on what is unseen. What is seen is transitory; what is unseen lasts forever." (2 Cor. 4, 18)
Gaze for a moment. Watch the divine descend and see beyond. My friends and I sat gazing at this empty corner, imagining what it would look like before the shrine was built. Neither of us has seen its completion nor does it matter! What matters most is what our eyes were focused upon that day! What is truly unseen lasts forever because God is everywhere or as the Australian aboriginals put it so delightfully, the divine is "every when."
May we find our "thin spaces" "every when" the Transcendent visits!
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