Artist: Unknown (14th Century) Those who wait to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything. Life is made up of little things. True greatness consists in being great in the little things.
Artist: Abbott Handerson Thayer-- Rabindranath Tagore I am particularly moved by the very last line of this prayer. I know that I, myself, am not able to be fearless - at least, not yet. Nor am I able to stop myself from looking for allies. I must admit that I don't deal particularly well with pain. And, I'm sad to say that anxiety and I are old traveling companions. But, oh, that last line! I know what it is to find the grasp of God's hand in my failure - yes, I do - and for that I am grateful beyond expression.Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
But to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
But for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield,
But to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
But hope for the patience to win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward,
feeling your mercy in my success alone,
But let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.
Artist: Francisco de GoyaI am a place where God's love turns up in this world.
— M. Basil Pennington in Listening
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
- From Revelation 7
Artist: Claude-Max LochuPrayers of Steel
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
Let me pry loose old walls.
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
Drive me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together.
Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders.
Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights into white stars.
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
Ruled by these rebel powers that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more:
So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.
Artist: Martin Johnson HeadeHow do we live in creation? Do we relate to it as a place full of "things" we can use for whatever we want to fulfill and whatever goal we wish to accomplish? Or do we see creation first of all as a sacramental reality, a sacred space where God reveals to us the immense beauty of the Divine?
As long as we only "use" creation, we cannot recognize its sacredness because we are approaching it as if we were its owners. But when we relate to all that surrounds us as created by the same God who created us and as the place where God appears to us and calls us to worship and adoration, then we are able to recognize the sacredness of all God's handiwork.-- Henri Nouwen
"Narcissus" by MichaelangeloThe beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
"Sunrise Over Diamond Head" by Jules Tavernier It seems to be a general belief that the will of God is to make things distasteful for us, like taking bad-tasting medicine when we are sick, or going to the dentist. Somebody needs to tell us that the sunrise is also God’s will. There is the time of harvest, the harvest which will provide food and clothes for us, without which life could not be sustained on earth. God ordered the seasons—they are his will. In fact, the good things in life far outweigh the bad. There are more sunrises than cyclones.
Why not make the following experiment, which will not only be thrillingly interesting, but will certainly teach you more in one day than you could learn from books or lectures in many weeks. Here is what you have to do: For one whole day think, speak, and act exactly as you would if you were absolutely convinced of the truth of the statements that God has all power and infinite intelligence, and that His nature is infinite goodness and love. To think in this manner all day will be the most difficult thing, because it is so subtle. To speak in accordance with these truths will be easier, if you are vigilant. To act in accordance with them will be the easiest part, although it may require much in the way of moral courage.
"Corridor in the Asylum" by Van GoghTo think the world therefore a general Bedlam, or place of madmen, and oneself a physician, is the most necessary point of present wisdom: an important imagination, and the way to happiness.
Artist: Antonio Sicurezza Maybe some of you remember having seen Wendy Beckett on television. She's a solitary nun who has used various works of art as focal points for her contemplation and then shared those observations with others.The eye that sees nobility and beauty in what another would regard as ordinary is the eye of prayer.
Artist: Jean Auguste Dominique IngresI don't think this means we have to be obsessive-compulsive about our possessions or about various objects. I do think it means we need to wake up to the reality of how we habitually look at anything or anyone.Let everything you touch be treated as if it were as precious as the altar vessels. Whenever you handle any equipment or any person, be reverent. Be full of care with everything entrusted to you. Everything you touch or see, everyone for whom you have responsibility, is to be viewed as something cherished by God, and thus to be cherished by you.
— Norvene Vest in Friend of the Soul
Artist: Friedrich Perlberg You know, I think this is often true:
- Jonathon MillerIn some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners.
Where was Thomas when Jesus first appeared? John doesn't tell us. My own guess was that he was out and about getting on with his life. Why do I think that? Because Thomas was a realist. Let's not forget: in chapter 11, it's Thomas who recognizes that for Jesus to return to Judea is to face the threat of death, and it's Thomas who urges the other disciples to go with Jesus. So while we don't know where Thomas was when Jesus first appeared, we do know where he wasn't – locked in the upper room for fear of the religious authorities.
It is the custom in some Orthodox parishes to travel to the cemetery on this day to pray, light candles, and to sing "Christ is Risen!" to deceased family members. If your parish does this, make sure to take your children even if you don't have any family members buried there. They need to learn that we Orthodox pray for the dead. If your parish does not so this, you and your family can go on your own, say a prayer for the dead listed in most prayer books, and sing "Christ is Risen!" Be sure to take and light candles at each grave you visit.
Artist: Francisque Millet In case you don't recognize the name Joy Davidman, she wrote a number of books including Smoke on the Mountain (from which the above passage is taken) and was also married to C.S. Lewis.Two thousand years of failure have not taught some reformers that you can't stop sin by declaring it illegal. Two thousand years have not taught them that you can't save a man's soul by force -- you can only lose your own in the attempt. Drunkenness and gambling and secularism and lechery -- various hopeful churchmen have earnestly tried to outlaw them all; and what is the result? A drunken nation, a gambling nation, a secularist nation, an adulterous nation. And, often, a ruined Church.
-- Joy Davidman
Artist: Joaquin SorollaThe world is new to us each morning — that is the Lord's gift, and we should believe we are reborn each day.
Artist: Wolfram PlotzkeTo believe in the resurrection means that we cannot stop at our wounds.I often find myself listening to someone who is caught by, stuck in, a wound that is actually decades old. I don't fault people for this, of course, because usually they truly don't know how to get out of that tomb. If we find ourselves trapped in this way, however, we really do need to find someone who can help us break free.
— Patricia McCarthy quoted in Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr
To Practice This Thought: Honor your pain but don't entomb yourself in it.
Artist: Fra AngelicoMaybe as we continue to ponder the mystery of the Resurrection, we could well reflect on what is not. What are the things that now are not true about us, are not part of our lives, that speak to us most strongly of our own personal resurrection? I can think of quite a few, actually. I imagine we all can.An empty tomb. Our great Christian symbol of life and hope is found in something missing, something not there, a displacement...
For this empty tomb is full of meaning. From this empty tomb, hewn in rock, we as Christians draw forth all of our faith and hope for this world and for the kingdom to come. At this empty tomb we find the Christ of eternity alive in the here and now. From this chasm, a symbol of death and defeat, comes forth victory and life itself. Christ’s tomb is the earthen fissure through which God’s love pours out upon our parched world of sin and death.
We do not know how this is so. But then there are a lot of things we do not know. How life began in some ocean lagoon billions of years ago, for instance. Or even how our parents fell in love. Just as our lives today are in some real sense mysteries we shall never fathom, so is the Resurrection for us a sharing in the mystery of God’s own life. Or perhaps more to the point, it is a sharing by God in our lives.
Mary Magdalen announcing the resurrectionEnough! the Resurrection,
A heart’s-clarion! Away grief’s gasping, joyless days, dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone
A beacon, an eternal beam. Flesh fade, and mortal trash
Fall to the residuary worm; world’s wildfire, leave but ash:
In a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood,
immortal diamond,
Is immortal diamond.
"Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels"I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; *in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the LORD,more than watchmen for the morning, *more than watchmen for the morning.
- from Psalm 130
I never connected this with my own life until this year, when I was forced to be absolutely dependent on others to take care of me after I had surgery. It was a helpless feeling, and I was so thankful for the wonderful nurses and aides who tended to my needs, including washing my feet. Their gift of service was so enormous in comparison with anything I could do for others at that time.It's easy to interpret this ritual as meaning we need to wash others' feet (both literally and metaphorically) - and this is true. It also means, I would assert, that we need to be receptive enough to let our own feet be washed. Peter had to learn this. So did Elinor. And so does each one of us.
Being a 75-year-old grandma who was used to doing everything myself, and sometimes helping others, made it difficult to accept. But my helpers reflected the love God has for us in every situation — wow, what a lesson!
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