# The Dance Day 2 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *My God and Father, Lord of the dance, allow me to see this day and this moment for what it really is—an invitation to dance the dance of life and faith with the One who made me. May I dance this day with joy and passion, knowing that there will never be another one just like it. In the name of Jesus I Pray. Amen. (JLB)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 149 #### Sing to the Lord a New Song *149 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.5 Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds.6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples,8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron,9 to execute on them the judgment written!This is honor for all his godly ones.**Praise the Lord!* #### Scripture for the Day: Luke 7:24-35 *24 When John's messengers had gone, Jesus[a] began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,* *“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’* *28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just,[b] having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)* *31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,* *“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’* *33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”* #### Reading for Reflection: *What is serious to man is often very trivial in the sight of God. What in God might appear to us as “play” is perhaps what He Himself takes most seriously. At any rate the Lord plays and diverts Himself in the garden of His creation, and if we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance. We do not have go very far to catch echoes of that game, and of that dancing. When we are alone on a starlit night; when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment where they are really children; when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet Basho we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash—at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the “newness,” the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.* ​ *For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness. The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunder- standing the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity and despair. But it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Indeed, we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not.* ​ *Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance. (New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Canticle of the Sun *The heavens are telling the glory of God* *And all of creation is shouting for joy* *Come dance in the forest, come play in the field* *And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord* ### Closing Prayer *Lord God, draw me out on the dance floor of life this day and fill my ears and heart with the beautiful music of Your great affection. Give me such an awareness of your presence that my feet just can’t be still. Dance with me as I dance with you. Amen. (JLB)*