When We Are Wordless

Sometimes prayer is difficult.

Sometimes, just finding the words for hopes, feelings, dreams, or despair is challenging.

When words don’t seem to work. Madeleine L’Engle’s poem “Word” eloquently and gracefully expresses the difficulty.

Words are all we have,

and yet….

Sometimes they can’t contain what we long to communicate, what we feel, or what we need to express.

“I who live by words am wordless when I try my words in prayer.” Who among us has not had that experience of words falling short for the longing, hope, despair, we are ready to express, and can’t quite…

This is why I love the liturgy and Book of Common Prayer in the Episcopal Church. There is something so powerful about written prayers that have accompanied faithful (or trying to be faithful) people for generations. When my soul is wordless, I can find the words in the prayers collected in the prayer book.

“Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness…”

A Collect for Peace (The Book of Common Prayer)

Poetry, too, gives me words when I feel wordless. Poetry brings life to inklings and wistful impressions that feel beyond words, until a thoughtful poet gives them shape. Poetry frames moments, ideas, and humanity in ways that cut through the jumble, right to the essence.

Glory is my work!

-Mary Oliver

Songs too hold that power. Sometimes a simple line, two or three words, captures a feeling, an impression, a hope, or a fear in a way that uncorks something in my soul.

And all those things I didn't say
Were wrecking balls inside my brain

-Rachel Platten in Fight Song

May the word or wordless prayers you offer today shimmer, sparkle, shine, and bless.

Photo by Piermario Eva on Unsplash

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Spiritual Direction Centering:

• Takes several slow, deep breaths.

• Soften your gaze, or close your eyes. As you deepen and slow your breathing, notice where you feel the breath most in your body…in your nose, lungs, belly. Let your attention rest in that place.

• Breathe in: I who live by words

• Breathe out: am wordless

• Read “Word” by Madeleine L’Engle slowly, savor her words.

• Notice your reaction to this poem.

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"Word," by Madeleine L'Engle

I, who live by words, am wordless when
I try my words in prayer. All language turns
To silence. Prayer will take my words and then
Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks word, breaks me,
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
I leave, returned to language, for I see
Through words, even when all words are ended.
I, who live by words, am wordless when
I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

+ Madeleine L’Engle

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Spiritual Direction Questions:

• Is there a single word that shimmered or sparkled for you in the poem?

• Pause with that word. What comes up as you consider the word?

• Have you noticed the word in other places recently?

• Does the word hold an invitation for you?

Today is the summer solstice! I’ve written several pieces over the years about the energy and invitation of this day. I love both of these pieces. “A Blessing of Reflection” is about spending the summer solstice in Big Sky, Montana, at a golf tournament, and then driving across Montana and Idaho, following the sun. “When the Sun Pauses” is quotes, reflections, and journal ideas for marking this longest day of the year.

May one (or both) invite you into all this longest day of the year has to offer.

The stilled voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.

-Madeleine L'Engle