4 Ala 162 B.E. March 4-5, 2006
As a gift for Ayyam-i-Ha I received a Fast meditation journal. The journal contains nineteen pages with a quote from the Baha’i scriptures at the top of the page followed by sever blank lines to write my thoughts on the quotation. On the front of the journal is a short prayer for the fast and on the journal’s last page is a longer Fast prayer. This is the first year I have did a meditation journal for the Fast.
Meditating on the sacred scriptures is an interesting process. The way I go about it is to first say a prayer, in this case a prayer for Fast. Next I read the scripture verse over several times. After I have read the sacred quote over, I think about it for a few minutes and then I write my thoughts down. Sometimes I am surprised by what I write and sometimes I am not surprised.
The quote for the first day of Fast from Baha’u’llah and says: “Fasting and obligatory prayer are as two wings to man's life. Blessed be the one who soareth with their aid in the heaven of the love of God, the Lord of all worlds.” (Compilations, The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting).
My thoughts on the quote are (1) Carried above desires of matter the lover/seeker ascends wings washed by the duties of faith obedient to the longing of spirit ascend carry; (2) Weighted down by the desires of matter the soul cannot fly; (3) Prayer and fasting unburden the soul free the spirit from the desires of matter; (4) Love is paradise, God’s love the ultimate paradise; (5) Obligatory prayer - prayer is always one of the divine laws laid down by God’s reflection on Earth, fasting another. When the Fast is over, I am going to combine my thoughts on the quotes into a poem or a series of poems about the Fast.
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