All through her life, nature had been for Madeleva "beauty's self and beauty's giver." Through it, the divine revealed itself in natural ephiphanies:
Can I not find you in all winds that blow,
In the wild loneliness of lark and plover,
In slender shadow trees upon the snow?
This poem suggests that her prayers had gone beyond words; apparently, only silence could express them. If simplicity, in prayer as in life, is a sign of maturing sanctity, then Madeleva's inner life would seem to have deepened through the years.
The peace in the sky, the peace in mid-air, the peace on the earth, the peace in the waters, the peace in the plants, the peace in the forest trees, the peace in the angels, the peace in the Beloved, the peace in all things the peace in peace ... May that peace come to me!
~ from EVERY EYE BEHOLDS YOU, edited by Thomas J Craughwell
