Letter Writing~A Lost Art

In our high-tech culture of electronic communication, I have become more aware of the fact that I rarely receive good old-fashioned, heart-warming, snail mail letters. That is, I never receive a letter that I can actually sit down, take a load off, and leisurely savor the wisdom and journey of a loved one.  I don't mean this as a lament on my part, but rather a longing for communication meant to be genuinely shared and that will immediately ignite my spirits to respond with like-minded "soul mate" connection.  There tends to even be less junk mail which I usually throw away (always thinking what a waste of our beautiful trees!).  Instead, most communication is via e-mail, more junk mail than non-junk correspondence.  The communication I must respond to is very brief, not even in complete sentences- sometimes just an impersonal "OK" seems to suffice. But with the advent of social networking, I am aware that there is even less e-mail, less talking on the phone, more and more texting everywhere I go.  I am really not aware of people writing letters anymore.  Greeting cards are still a part of my life, but even these are often sent electronically.

Saint Basil the Great in a letter to Olympius resonates with my lament:
You used to write us little enough, but now you do not write even that little; and if your brevity keeps increasing with time, it seems likely to become complete speechlessness.  Therefore return to your old custom, for I shall never again find fault with you for practicing Laconic brevity on me by letter.  Nay, even your little letters, seeing that they are tokens of magnanimity, I shall value highly.  Only write to me.

Sister Macrina Wiederkehr OSB, in her book, A Tree Full of Angels, describes the reception of letters as Finding God in the Mailbox.  She believes "letters are the stories of our souls. Unlike a telephone call, a letter can be picked up again and again.  It can be deeply pondered.  It can be eaten.  Always serve letters with a cup of tea and a footstool.  Celebrate "the reading" slowly.  It is irreverent to read a letter fast."  She goes on to say that she treasures her letters "like morning sunrises. I see the rays between the lines.  I hear the dreams and yearnings, the gratitude and delight...A letter bears its own copyright.  Standing before my mailbox holding an original very limited edition in my hands is like standing before a feast."

I really can't remember the last three or four page letter I wrote to anyone.  I have written short letters to God in my journal and have written special greeting cards with maybe three or four sentences of generic "best wishes" jargon.  I do believe writing should be an artist's  soul connection with another- a sharing of one's sacred journey to another Holy Listener.  It calls for the discipline to carve out holy, sabbath time- a time that will allow me to reflect on the sacredness of my daily journey, to share it with a special listener, to send the written, "limited edition" and to await the blessed surprise of a return letter in my mailbox.

The Sabbath time of letter writing is a challenge for me.  It is a gift to me and to the one with whom I share.
I am reminded of one of my favorite Scripture passages- "The gift you have received, give as a gift." (Matthew 10:8)  In old-fashioned, snail-mail letter-writing, I gift my self to another with a "token of magnanimity."  If I receive a response I am equally blessed by God's presence in that person's life.  If I do not receive a response, I am still blessed.

So I start this holy art of letter writing this week.  The first loved one that I write to will be my dear mother.  The second one will be my former spiritual director-a wonderful Holy Listener.  And if anyone else wants to send me a genuine, old-fashioned snail mail, I promise to send you one also.

"The connection to the Friend

is secret and very fragile.

The image of the Friendship

is in how you love,

the grace and the delicacy,

the subtle talking together

in full prostration, outside of time,

When you are there,

remember the fierce courtesy

of the one with you."

A Year with Rumi ~Coleman Barks