October begins with the Feast of Guardian Angels and ends with the eve of All Saints. In this month we get reminded through holy scripture, traditional beliefs, and stories handed down that we are connected to and united with blessed spirits that can light our way as they guard and guide us along life’s journey. It seems that they don’t want us to forget that, while physical and material, we are also spiritual and mystical. I ran across the prayer (below) from a church community in Hawaii; it might help you to sense the mystical union of heaven and earth.

“O infinite Presence, Source of light and life, anchor your vast and eternal heaven deep within the quiet sanctuary of my heart. Let your sacred power and radiant beauty dissolve the boundary between the seen and unseen, the visible and invisible. Breathe your celestial harmony through my mortal breath, that my hands may become your hands, and my daily steps may weave your peace into the fabric of earth. As the heavens pour their boundless longing and grace upon creation, let my soul echo your divine will—on earth as it is in heaven.”

In Van Morrison’s famous 1970 hit song, Into the Mystic, he offers beautiful imagery of the wind, the sun, and the sea inspiring our souls and spirits to magnificently fly and sail into the mystic. Jesus, whose public ministry was centered around the Sea of Galilee, encouraged His disciples to sail their boat to another shore where He would meet them. Along their voyages, much happened; they got to know one another better and experienced one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes it was smooth sailing but other times they encountered darkness, storms, or abandonment. Like the men’s soccer team from Norway that taught us the Viking Row in this year’s World Cup, I think Christ just wanted them, and us, to learn to row together despite differences.

Similarly, when standing on a seashore and viewing a vast horizon where the sky and oceanwaters comingle, we get a sense of the world’s majesty and God’s mystery. Such a scene calls us into the mystic. It also happens for us at sunrises or sunsets, during contemplative prayers and encounters with wonderful people, or when recalling the inspiration of deceased loved ones and contemplating angels and saints. Let’s utilize October as a gift in which we soak up the outdoors, breathe crisp fresh air, cooperate with good spirits that surround us, seek their assistance in our darkness, loneliness, and times of storms. Let’s seek to be more aware of seen and unseen angels who guide and guard us, look to the example of saints who light our way, be assured that Jesus wants to meet us on the other shore as He encourages us all to row in the same direction toward heaven. Let’s be that quiet sanctuary, a vessel for God’s radiant beauty, where our steps are in sync with the divine and our hands reach out as if heaven is reaching through us to comfort those on earth who’re in need. United with God, with the angels and saints, let our souls and spirits fly into the mystic.