Yesterday, I noticed a strange looking bud on one of the cactus I have. I wasn’t aware of what species the cactus was, nor was I even curious as to its species, until something different began to happen.

How we creatures take so much for granted every day, as we become accustom to the way things are. Until something is no longer the same. Something becomes different.

I had not been able to do much with this latest bout of back and neck issues. Least of all, pay attention to my plants. This particular one, has sat on my front stoop for about 8 months. As I would walk by it, any water from my water bottle I had, I would dump in the pot, on my way up to the door after a day of work. I didn’t admire it. I didn’t spend any time caring for it. It just existed as it was. Much as our faith life does the same way.

At the very least, that occasional watering, lead to a beautiful discovery. This cactus, is a Night Blooming Cereus, Queen of The Night. The flowers are very short lived, and some only bloom for one night and are gone before the next morning. I hear this is a highly celebrated plant in some circles, and a very rare sight to see, actually open and blooming. Please see the article below:

One Night a Year, This Cactus Flower May Surprise You

The night progressed, and the beauty of the cactus, abounded, unnoticed by most, but I. I found myself deeply moved to share the photos of this beautiful flower on social media as it was opening. In the dark she blooms, as only our Lord can see.

In the dark she blooms

for only our Lord can see

This morning, she is still in bloom, for all to see.

As the story of yesterdays discovery progressed, I find myself deeply pondering this beautiful opening, in correlation with the words of St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul…

STANZAS OF THE SOUL

1. One dark night,
fired with love’s urgent longings
— ah, the sheer grace! —
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.

2. In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, disguised,
— ah, the sheer grace! —
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.

3. On that glad night,
in secret, for no one saw me,
nor did I look at anything,
with no other light or guide
than the one that burned in my heart.

4. This guided me
more surely than the light of noon
to where he was awaiting me
— him I knew so well —
there in a place where no one appeared.

5. O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

6. Upon my flowering breast
which I kept wholly for him alone,
there he lay sleeping,
and I caressing him
there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

7. When the breeze blew from the turret,
as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.

8. I abandoned and forgot myself,
laying my face on my Beloved;
all things ceased; I went out from myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.