 |
| Image by Robert J. Heath |
†
Melangell
†
A GREETING
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
(Psalm 25:1)
A READING
Wisdom teaches her children
and gives help to those who seek her.
Whoever loves her loves life,
and those who seek her from early morning are filled with joy.
Whoever holds her fast inherits glory,
and the Lord blesses the place she enters.
Those who serve her minister to the Holy One;
the Lord loves those who love her.
(Sirach 4:11-14)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter:
whoever finds one has found a treasure.
(Sirach 6:14)
A POEM
And it was the same as the day
she first stepped onto the sea,
handed herself to the waves
and to the will of God: brash sunlight
thrown back, the green earth
tipping under her feet. Not so much
bravery, not so much faith
as a small, dull light that scratched
into life in her chest, then grew
until she could not see around its edge.
Beyond, there was quiet. The hare
dropped its head to its paws, and slept.
- from "Melangell," by Anna Lewis
VERSE OF THE DAY
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
(Proverbs 31:25)
†
 |
| Icon of Melangell, created by Denise Norman (2009) |
Often when we hear of someone taking some time in solitude, we think of it as a transitory phase, a waystation in the larger story of a journey. We know that solitude can be a time where people clarify what God is saying to them and get in touch with their deepest longings and desires. But for some people, like the early seventh-century Welsh saint Melangell, solitude itself is a vocation.
The story is told this way. Destined to be married off by her father, an Irish prince, Melangell firmly resisted, already clear in her vocation to be a nun, despite that no convents as yet existed in Ireland. What she most desired was a place to live in solitude and pray. At the time, families depended on the bride price, like a dowry, that a young woman or daughter could bring. Especially for a prince, it was also a mark of status in the family to marry well. Melangell’s father was ultimately persuaded.
With no clear place to go, Melangell instead took herself into the wilderness, boarding a boat and landing in North Wales. There she lived on berries and whatever she could find among the plants and slept in a cave by the sea, for fifteen years. She lived alone in terms of human companionship, but she befriended, as so many of the monks did, the animals in the environment where she found herself.
One day a Welsh prince named Brychwel Ysgithrog, and some of his men, were hunting and chasing a large white hare that his hounds were close to catching. All of a sudden the dogs came to a standstill, and the prince beheld Melangell on her knees with her head on the ground, praying for the safekeeping of the rabbit, who hid under her cloak. When Melangell explained who she was and where she had come from, the prince was moved to give her land and money on which to establish her first convent. (He eventually also surrendered his own castle for another monastery.) Leaving her solitude was not easy, but remembering her one-time dream, she accepted the profound gift.
This tale is a shift from archetypal stories of princes and young women, in which the woman often ends up married to the prince and mistress of a large household. Instead, the ending of this story is a soul friendship between the Welsh prince and Melangell, and a deeply spiritual mutual respect and kinship in which each aided the other. Melangell went on to establish the convent of Pennant Melangell in County Powys in the north of Wales. Today she is considered the patron saint of rabbits and other small animals.
Sometimes we are called into solitude as a means to discerning next steps in the world, but sometimes solitude calls us, because it needs us to be there for an undetermined amount of time. In our own lives, we can be solitary, we can have solitude and we can be lonely, three very different things. No doubt Melangell experienced each of these. Ultimately, she chose to go into community and become the abbess of a small convent. She released her solitude for the sake of community, in order that what she held most dear in her heart, the gospel and witness of Jesus, she could share more widely, and share it with joy.
When have you been powerfully called into a time of solitude? How much are we able today to surrender to solitude without needing a goal to be obtained from it?
 |
| Image by Robert J. Heath |
†
LC† Come Holy Darkness is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help to support extended offerings throughout the year.
Thank you and peace be with you!