six veils

The Six-Fold Veil

At his feet the six-winged seraph;

Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the Presence,

As with ceaseless voice they cry,

“Alleluia, Alleluia!

Alleluia, Lord Most High.

The Liturgy of St James

Six veils.

1. The no-thing of space, emptiness, not-yet-ness, imageless night.
2. The cataclysm of things in their coming-to-be, their biggest bang, their horrendous pilgrimage, their disappearance into no-thing.
3. The shape of the earth, sky, and sea- the chemistry of primal life, the evolving biosphere, the dawn of consciousness.
4. The deeds and histories of men and women, the meals shared, the sudden losses befallen unawares, the unimaginable losses, the long hours of unrelieved regret, the end of hope.
5. Attempts at worship, exquisite efforts at music fit for God, the awareness of being surrounded, immersed, transfixed, translated, permeated with sacred heaviness.
6. Endings, closures, finalities, doom and diminishment. The Mass is an ending. The life is a death. I have died. I have risen. I am here.

Six veils over the vision of God. The music stirs each veil in turn, sometimes even rends it in two, exposing the level next beyond, exposing the silence between the notes and phrases, silence soaked in sound, silence baptized in bass notes, veils blown softly aside as if by vibrant wings.