Angels

Artist: Elvira Amrhein

Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed. In fact angels have no religion as we know it ...their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on earth.

-- St. Thomas Aquinas

A teaching of great consolation

Good Samaritan window (Norfolk, England)

Oh my. So many people who come to talk to me are full of dismay because they can't fix the wrongs of the world or even their small bit of it. It is so easy to get discouraged when our little effort seems like a drop in the vast ocean of suffering and need and we are tempted to think that our contribution to the betterment of the world can't possibly matter. But do look at this and think about it:

Even though I never did an evil deed, yet, if I have the will to do evil, I have the sin as if I had done the deed; and I could, by a total will, do as great a sin as if I had killed the whole world, though I never actually did anything. Why, would the same not be possible to a good will? Yes, indeed, and even much more so. Surely, I can do all things with the will. I can bear the sorrow of all men and feed all the poor and do the work of all men and whatever else you may think of. If it be not the will that fails you, but only the power, then truly, before God, you have done it all, and no man can take it from you or even hinder you for a moment; for to will to do as soon as I can is the same before God as having done it.

-- Meister Eckhart

"This alone is Reality"

"Boy and Girl"

Artist: Nevena K. Age 12

To see the words "Reality" and "Infinite Charity" in the following passage capitalized is wonderfully illuminating. They are names for God. Sometimes we need a more expansive language than the usual anthropomorphic words we commonly use:

When we look out towards this love that moves the stars and stirs in the child's heart and claims our total allegiance, and remember that this alone is Reality and we are only real so far as we conform to its demands, we see our human situation from a fresh angle; and we perceive that it is both more humble and dependent, and more splendid, than we had dreamed. We are surrounded and penetrated by great spiritual forces of which we hardly know anything. Yet the outward events of our life cannot be understood, except in their relation to that unseen and intensely living world, the Infinite Charity which penetrates and supports us, the God whom we resist and yet for whom we thirst; who is ever at work, transforming the self-centred desire of the natural creature into the wide spreading, outpouring love of the citizen of Heaven.

-- Evelyn Underhill

The search for meaning

"Morning"

Artist: Ruth Tietien Councell

At the end of Session 5 of the Foundations class I teach at St. John's Center, I always say, "Next week, we're going to learn 'the meaning of life'." Everybody laughs because those words have become such a cliché. But, in fact, the reason they are a cliché is because the search for meaning is so universal and the feeling of meaninglessness is so painful:

What we are looking for on earth and in earth and in our lives is the process that can unlock for us the mystery of meaningfulness in our daily lives. It has been the best-kept secret down through the ages because it is so simple. Truly, the last place it would ever occur to most of us to find the sacred would be in the commonplace of our everyday lives and all about us in nature and in simple things.

— Alice O. Howell in The Dove in the Stone

God the friend

"Communion"

Artist: Camilla Brunschwyler Armstrong

I found this on a blog called Poetry, Prayer and Praise. Seeing God as a friend is very consoling, very strengthening, very joy producing, I think:

God The Friend

God in the bad times
God in the good
God in the flame
And God in the wood.

God in the labour
God in the rest
God in the shallows,
God in the crest.

God in the healing,
God in the care
God on the wing
And God in the prayer.

God in the living
God at the end,
God the faithful
God the friend.

- Veritas

Something about forgiveness

"Earth Angel of Forgiveness"

Artist: Sofia Christine

I want to call your attention to a marvelous iconographer and jewelry maker named Sofia Christine who works with copper. I am posting this and sending you her way with her permission. I just love her work! Please go check it out.

Above is one of my favorites. Here's what Sofia says about it:

Earth Angel of Forgiveness is the messenger from God ready for our invitation to be a presence in our lives. One arm reaches downward in compassion while the other reaches up for the heart knowing that allows us to "give for" the Highest Understanding. Thus heaven truly touches earth.

I'm very moved by the idea that it is through forgiveness that heaven touches earth.

Maybe this is why:

It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder, because the latter may be an impulse of a moment of heat; whereas the former is a cold and deliberate choice of the heart.

-- George MacDonald

St. Mary Magdalen's Day

Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, "apostle to the apostles". The Lentz icon above has long been my favorite image of the Magdalen and I have a paper copy of it somewhere.

Mary Magdalen is frequently pictured holding an egg. Here's the legend behind that:

After the ascension of Christ to Heaven, Mary Magdalene preached the gospel to many and among them Tiberius Caesar, who it is said, proclaimed publicly to Mary Magdalene as she attended a feast at his palace that it was no more likely that Jesus rose from the dead than it was that the white egg she held in her hand would turn red. As Mary stretched out her hand the egg turned blood red. This was the beginning of the tradition of exchanging red colored eggs at Easter.

This has always been a special day for me because it is the closest major feast day to my birthday. And Mary Magdalen is greatly inspiring as an independent woman who fearlessly proclaimed the gospel.

How can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close,
songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since Love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble sick with fear
and hear their death knell ringing,
when friends rejoice both far and near
how can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since Love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
How can I keep from singing?

How can I keep from singing?

(Hat tip to Elizabeth Kaeton)

The eternal Logos

In principio erat verbum et verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat verbum.

Yvonne Perez sent me an email today about a book called Success Intelligence by Robert Holden, Ph.D. Holden includes a thought-provoking quote from a book by Danah Zohar who is a pioneer in the field of SQ - "Spiritual Intelligence". The quote is:

Logos has traditionally been translated as word .... but there is an earlier and more original Greek meaning of logos. This is translated as relationship .... Imagine logos translated in the Bible as relationship: 'In the beginning, there was relationship.'

I'm accustomed to Logos being typically explained as meaning Principle, Wisdom or Reason. It is also sometimes translated "ratio" and, of course, we see the relatationship angle right there. You can't have a ratio without relationship.

I agree this is wonderfully thought provoking.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

"Descent of the Holy Spirit"
Artist: Christopher Smith

St. Symeon the New Theologian prayed to the Holy Spirit:

Come Down, O True Light.
Come down life eternal.
Come down hidden mystery.
Come down ineffable treasure.
Come down O constant rejoicing.
Come down Light that never fades.
Come down Eternal Joy...!

A prayer to God the lover

The mystics of the Church often used very erotic language when trying to verbalize their prayer experiences. Teresa of Avila was a prime example. Here is one of her prayers which is clearly meant to offer great consolation:

O true Lover,
with how much compassion,
with how much gentleness,
with how much delight,
with how much favor,
and with what extraordinary signs of love
You cure these wounds,
which with the same darts
of this same love
You have caused!
O my God
and my rest from all pains,
how entranced I am!

— Saint Teresa of Avila

The blessings of the ordinary

"Still Life with Simple Things"

Artist: Marcio Melo

I want to give you two quotations today because they are so very connected in my mind:

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

And here's the other one:

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

-Abraham Heschel

Learning to be ordinary and to appreciate it was a spiritual breakthrough for me because I was brought up with the expectation that I would be special, exceptional. As one of my meditation teachers used to say, "Not necessary!"

Let it be okay to be. Just to be. How wonderful!

Coping with adversity

"Edge of Darkness"

Artist: Roger Phillips

I was taught quite some time ago that probably the most important monastic virtue is perseverance. I think that's true of spiritual practice whether one is a monastic or not. What really counts is not throwing in the towel. Here's an observation that will help:

It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.

-- J.R.R. Tolkien

Everything swirls with meaning

"Swirls"

Artist: Zoey Catherine

I first learned about Richard Rohr when I was living in Ireland in the early 90s and someone gave me a tape of Fr. Rohr speaking on the parable of the weeds among the wheat. I can't tell you how many times I listened to that talk. I subsequently made every effort to obtain recordings of his talks and retreat addresses and later to read his books.

Here's something he said that is worthy of considerable pondering:

The work of religion is to open our eyes to see a world where everything swirls with meaning.

— Richard Rohr in Quest for the Grail

Lord of the Dance

Artist: Joe Dunnagan

I love the image of the Divine Dancer. I often think of God in this way:

God is the lead dancer and the soul is the partner completely attuned to the rhythm and patterns set by the partner. She does not lead, but neither does she hang limp like a sack of potatoes.

— Thomas Merton

Faith - the real thing

Artist : Sumangal Rai

Carolyn Loomis sent me the following a while back and I just re-discovered it. I so agree. It's from a book entitled You Don't Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right:

When faith simplifies things that need to remain complex, instead of giving us strength to live with complexity, when it gives answers where none exist, instead of helping us appreciate the sacredness of living with questions, when if offers certainty when there needs to be doubt and when it tells us that we have arrived when we should still be searching--then there is a problem with that faith.

--Brad Hirschfield

The imperative of justice

"Lady Justice"

Artist: Giotto

Here's something that is very often forgotten or overlooked by religious people in the United States today:

More than a few Christians might be surprised to learn that the call to be involved in creating justice for the poor is just as essential and nonnegotiable within the spiritual life as is Jesus' commandment to pray and keep our private lives in order.

— Ronald Rolheiser in The Holy Longing

Saint Benedict

Today' is the feast day of Saint Benedict of Nursia, well known for his famous Rule. It is often remarked that the true hallmark of this rule is its moderation and balance. Here's a wonderful passage:

This rule is a school for learning God’s ways. It was meant to be gentle, not harsh or burdensome. If it seems a little strict at times, try to remember its purpose — to heal faults and safeguard love. Do not grow afraid of its discipline and run away, for these teachings are a road to inner freedom and peace.

— Rule of Benedict

Here's something else about the Rule:

The wisdom of Benedict's Rule lies in its flexibility, its tolerance for individual differences, and its openness to change. For over 1500 years, it has remained a powerful and relevant guide for those who would seek God in the ordinary circumstances of life.

When Benedict wrote his Rule, society seemed to be falling apart. Though materially prosperous, the Roman Empire was in a state of decline. After Benedict's death, barbarian hordes would overrun Europe and the very survival of Western civilization would be called into question. Benedictine monasteries—with their message of balance and moderation, stability, hospitality, and stewardship—were credited with the preservation of Western culture, and Benedict himself was named patron of Europe.

-- Sr. JM McClure, OSB

As a solitary myself, I often find myself reminding people that Benedict started out as a hermit and was later prevailed upon by other monks to abandon his solitude in order to lead them. Both expressions of monasticism are important: the solitary life and life in community.

The sounds around us

"Listening Carefully"

Artist: Marten Post

I found a blog just now that has a posting on Lectio Divina that includes this paragraph:

Sometimes in preparing for prayer, relax and listen to the sounds around you. God’s presence is as real as they are. Be conscious of your sensations and living experiences of feeling, thinking, hoping, loving, wondering, desiring, etc. Then, conscious of God’s unselfish, loving presence in you, address God simply and admit: “Yes, you do love life and feeling into me. You do love a share of your personal life into me. You are present to me. You live in me. Yes, you do.”

As I write I am in bed and the frogs outside are singing. It is a wonderful sound and I'm about to go to sleep listening to it. How lovely it is to know that it is God's own life within me that makes it possible for me to have this consciousness and this very real pleasure.

Spiritual quest

"Golden Road"

Artist: Alyce Tartell

People are looking for something and cannot seem to find it. They say they want more but cannot describe what that more is. This essentially is a spiritual quest.

— James W. Jones in In the Middle of this Road We Call Our Life

The title of the book quoted above is the first line from Dante's Inferno. Although this amazing medieval poem is in one way about the punishment of sinners, it is also about the inner journey. It reminds me in many ways of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Vision

"Behold"

Artist: Lucianna Whittaker

Sometimes when another person does not see our vision, that person may very well subject us to an interrogation - demanding that we somehow justify our ability to see what we see. Here's a wonderful passage that explores what this means:

We of the modern time live much more in the attitude of interrogation than of exclamation. We so blur our world with question marks that we lose the sense of wonder and sometimes even of vision. It is refreshing to note how frequently the great spiritual teachers of the New Testament introduce their message with the word "behold!" They speak because they see and they want their hearers and their readers to see. Their "behold" is more than an interjection — it has the force of an imperative, as though they would say: "Just see what I see. Open your eyes to the full meaning of what is before you," which is the method of all true teachers.

— Rufus Jones

A wonderful speculation about grace

"Grace"

Artist: Jess Thorsen

We think of grace arriving like an ambulance, just-in-time delivery, an invisible divine cavalry cresting a hill of troubles, a bolt of jazz from the glittering horn of the Creator, but maybe it lives in us and is activated by illness of the spirit. Maybe we're loaded with grace. Maybe we're stuffed with the stuff. Maybe it's stitched into our DNA, a fifth ingredient in the deoxyribonucleic acidic soup.

— Brian Doyle

The whole of the Good News

This Little Light of Mine

Artist: Kanayo Ede

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” --- Matthew 5:14,15

Here's an assertion I've never come across before. It really makes me think:

So the whole of the Good News of Jesus is in these two statements, 'I am the Light of the world' , and 'You are the Light of the world.'

~ John Martin Sahajananda

St. Teresa of Avila on love

If you look at popular novels, at gossip magazines, at syrupy soap operas and movies, you come away with the impression that falling in love is something that just happens. Here you are, sauntering down Fourth Street minding your own business, when suddenly you spy a certain someone coming out of a shop and you fall in love as if into a manhole. True love is much harder to come by than that.

The mystics are the world’s authorities on love. When Saint Teresa says “Amor saca amor,” she is giving us the basic principle: “Love begets love.” One of the most beautiful things about love is that even today it cannot be purchased. It cannot be stolen, it cannot be ransomed, it cannot be cajoled, it cannot be seduced. Amor saca amor: only genuine love begets love.

All of us have been conditioned, even though we may not put it in such crass terms, to believe that if you love me six units, I should love you at most six units in return. I can feel secure in loving you six units because you have already committed yourself that far. But if you get annoyed with me and stomp out, slamming the door, I should get annoyed in return – and pull back, at least temporarily, my six units of love. This is the type of bargain that more and more so-called lovers strike today. Saint Teresa would say uncompromisingly, “Don’t pretend that this is love. It falls more accurately under the heading of commerce.” Shakespeare put the matter in perfect perspective: “Call it not love that changeth.”

--Eknath Easwaran

I think one of the most painful things that can possibly happen to a person is to have a beloved's love change, stop, go away, simply not be there any more. This happens with humans - all too often. Not with God. Not with God. God's love never changes. It is always reliable, always passionate, always utter, total, accepting.

Prayer for the Nation on Independence Day

God of ages,
in your sight nations rise and fall,
and pass through times of peril.
Now when our land is troubled,
be near to judge and save.
May leaders be led by your wisdom;
may they search your will and see it clearly.
If we have turned from your way,
help us to reverse our ways and repent.
Give us your light and your truth to guide us;
through Jesus Christ,
who is Lord of this world, and our Savior. Amen.

Source: Prebyterian Church USA

Fidelity - the real thing

"Apple Blossoms"

Artist: Clare Annice McCarthy

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

-- Martin Luther

Forgiveness

I think I've mentioned Lewis Smedes on this blog before. He is truly excellent on the subject of forgiveness. I heartily recommend his book Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve. Reading it helped me a lot once upon a time.

A capacity for love

"Tranquil Seashell"

Artist: Pamela Gladding

There is in each of us, no matter how humble, a capacity for love. Even if our lives have not taken the course we had envisioned, even if we are less than the shape of our dreams, we are part of the human family. Somewhere, in the most inconsequential corners of our lives, is the opportunity for love.

If I am blind, I can run my hand across the back of a shell and celebrate beauty. If I have no legs, I can sit in quiet wonder before the restless murmurs of the sea. If I am wounded in spirit, I can reach out my hand to those who are hurting. If I am lonely, I can go among those who are desperate for love. There is no tragedy or injustice so great, no life so small and inconsequential, that we cannot bear witness to the light in the quiet acts and hidden moments of our days.

And who can say which of these acts and moments will make a difference? The universe is a vast and magical membrane of meaning, stretching across time and space, and it is not given to us to know her secrets and her ways. Perhaps we were placed here to meet the challenge of a single moment; perhaps the touch we give will cause the touch that will change the world.

-- Unknown

God's "Show and Tell"

"Eucharistic Universe"

Artist: Farid De La Ossa Arrieta CMF

I've always loved "show and tell". I loved it as a child and I love it as a grownup. Here's something Madeleine L'Engle said that I had not come across before today. I think it's quite wonderful.

A teacher of small children told us of a child who said to her, "Jesus is God's show and tell." How simple and how wonderful! Jesus is God's show and tell. That's the best theology of incarnation I've ever heard. Jesus said, if you do not understand me as a little child, you will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

It's rare that we get to thank the writers who have really made an impact on our thinking and way of experiencing the world but I did get to thank Madeleine L'Engle. I heard her speak back in the late 70s or early 80s and told her afterward how much her writing had meant to me over the years. She was absolutely lovely to me and I've never forgotten it.

Imitating Christ

"Pietà"

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

My great-aunt, who was a very devout Methodist, always had a copy of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis on her beside table along with her Bible. I think you can see why:

Ah, Lord God, holy lover of my soul, when you come into my heart, all that is within me shall rejoice. You are my glory and the exultation of my heart: you are my hope and refuge in the day of my trouble.
...
Love is a great thing, yes, a great and thorough good; by itself it makes every thing that is heavy, light; and it bears evenly all that is uneven.
...
Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing more courageous, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller nor better in heaven and earth; because love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God, above all created things.
...
Make me large in love, that with the inward palate of my heart I may taste how sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and as it were to bathe myself in your love.

-- Thomas à Kempis

Considering the heavens

Whirlpool Galaxy

(Hubble telescope photograph)

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

-- From Psalm 8

A prayer for guidance

"Storm at Sea"

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in your name we shall find comfort and peace.

--Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379)

A prayer for troubled times

"Transformation"

Artist: Valerie Rogers

Dear Lord,

I may not see the sun and moon lose their light.

I may not witness rivers turn red, or stars fall from the sky.

Yet there are times when my world becomes unhinged

and the foundations of what I believe crack and dissolve.

Give me the grace to believe that Your power is at work

in the turmoil of my life.

Lead me to remember that Your power is greater than all evil,

and though the world may rock and sometimes break,

it will in time be transformed by Your Love.

--author unknown

The horizons of our hopes

"Tall Ship No. 1

I am amazed by this prayer. It is so easy to "dream too little" and to "sail too close to the shore." The question for us all is this: Am I willing to lose sight of the land in order to find the stars? O Divine Giver-of-courage, make me so willing!

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

-- Attributed to Sir Francis Drake -1577

Empathy

"Grey Empathy"

Artist: K Kostolny

Lately I've had occasion to think about empathy - its presence, its absence and how it can be cultivated.

Here's a good description of what empathy is all about:

Empathy is the ability to recognize the sentience and suffering in another being. Empathy is the basis of high-level altruism that does not depend on the barter principle. The ethic of empathy is the Golden Rule: treat others, as you would have them treat you. Empathy depends on knowing that the other person feels pain as much as you do or will feel happiness as much as you do if they are well treated. If another human is grieving, you feel their suffering and offer help. If another human is injured, you stop everything to help them and you treat their injured body with care to avoid increasing their pain. This ability to feel the experience of others in your own consciousness is one of the great accomplishments of brain evolution.

It strikes me that cultivating and demonstrating empathy toward the other is crucial to living out one of the key promises of the baptismal covenant - that is "to respect the dignity of every human being." (BCP 1979, p. 305)

Here's an excerpt from The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love by Arthur P. Ciaramicoli and Katherine Ketcham that I think is key:

Empathy allows us to see the connections between us, making strangers less strange, foreigners less foreign. When we adopt other people's perspectives, we do more than step into their shoes — we use their eyes, we borrow their skin, we feel their hearts beating within us, we lose ourselves and enter into their world, as if we were them. I emphasize those words once again because they are so critically important and so often misunderstood. With empathy, we do not step into others' experience to see it with our eyes — empathy demands that we see it with their eyes.

That's really what it's all about, isn't it? Seeing with the other person's eyes rather than with our own.

Blessing

"A Cup of Blessings"

For those of you who are married or in committed relationships, here is a beautiful blessing I stumbled upon today:

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be a shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other.

Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other.

Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.

May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years;

may happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long upon the earth.

Treat yourselves and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together.

Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.

When frustration, difficulties and fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.

And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight.

-- Wedding blessing

To Come Home to Yourself

"Coming Home"

Artist: Beverley Grant

Kathleen Cairns sent me the following. I was delighted to get it because I have loved the works of John O'Donohue for a long time now:

To Come Home to Yourself

May all that is unforgiven in you
Be released.

May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquillities.

May all that is unlived in you
Blossom into a future
Graced with love.

-- from To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue

By the way, do click through "John O'Donohue" link just above. It's a wonderful article about him!

Reconciliation

This wonderful story was sent to me by Br. Jim Phillips:

In the Kingdom of God, it is deeds that count, not words. Some of the most Christian events are conducted without words. I once lived with two old Jesuits, Piaras (who was passionate about Irish) and Willie (who was passionate about exercise). They had warm hearts behind exteriors that might have seemed crotchety to a stranger. In fact they seemed crotchety to one another. After years of increasingly cross exchanges, they lapsed into silence with one another, and stopped talking. They could get away with it in a large community. Willie, the older of the two, used spend part of his morning collecting firewood outside and bringing it to his fireplace. But in his late eighties, as he grew more bent and feeble, this became too hard for him. It was as much as he could do to walk outside, much less collect and carry.

One morning he came back from his walk to find his fire made up, and a stack of dry wood beside it. The pattern was repeated, day after day. Piaras had noticed the plight of his old sparring partner, and every day gathered a bundle for him. No words were exchanged. Instead Willie would use his morning walk, once a week, to visit the corner shop and buy a bag of Piaras's favourite sweets. Every Friday he would leave them at Piaras's door, without a word. So the exchange went on, firewood for sweets, week by week till Willie lapsed into his final illness. Piaras came to make peace with him, but talk was unnecessary. They had made up long before.

Repentance

"Repent"

Artist: Amy Galaudet

I've noticed over the years that many Christians are confused about the meaning of repentance. They think it means to feel really, really guilty about what they've done wong and to make constant resolutions not to do those things again. To repent, however, means to turn around. I particularly like this explanation:

When Jesus said, 'Repent,' to his first disciples, he was calling them to change the direction in which they were looking for happiness. 'Repent' is an invitation to grow up and become a fully mature human being who integrates the biological needs with the rational level of consciousness. The rational level of consciousness is the door that swings into higher states — the intuitive and unitive levels of consciousness. They open us to the experience of God's presence, which restores the sense of happiness. We can then take possession of everything that was good in our early life while leaving the distortions behind.

-- Thomas Keating

Prayer and the heart

Artist: John William Waterhouse

Prayer makes a sour heart sweet, a sad heart merry, a poor heart rich, a foolish heart wise, a timid heart brave, a sick heart well, a blind heart full of sight, a cold heart ardent. It draws down the great God into the little heart; it drives the hungry soul up into the fullness of God; it brings together two lovers, God and the soul, in a wondrous place where they speak much of love.

- Mechthild of Magdeburg

One world, God's world

"In this painting I used different colours to represent the different groups of people in the world. On the left side of the painting, I tried to resemble the world in my eyes. Groups all separated by different things, with the black lines and white words representing those things. On the right I painted what peace would mean to me, all the groups being mixed together, with the happy and peaceful colours around everyone."
- Shannon Pennifold, 14 years, Red Deer, Canada

Some years ago I read a book on forgiveness by Lewis B. Smedes and found it to be very, very helpful indeed. Today I discovered a quote on the Spirituality and Practice site by Smedes from his book called Choices. I especially like the suggested practice:

"I am personally thankful that we live together in a large moral house even if we do not drink at the same fountain of faith. The world we experience together is one world, God's world, and our world, and the problems we share are common human problems. So we can talk together, try to understand each other, and help each other."

To Practice This Thought: Recount one insight about yourself or the world that you gained through meeting someone from another culture.

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life

The greatest attribute of God is Love. The Tree of Life is located in the very depth of our soul. The most perfect and abundant fruit that grows and ripens is Life giving Love; it is the great healing force in the world. Love never fails to meet every demand of the human heart. The Divine principal of Love may be used to eliminate every sorrow, infirmity, in-harmony, ignorance and all mistakes of mankind. Love is God; eternal, limitless, changeless, infinite. It is the pulse of the world, the heartbeat of the Universe.

-- Baird Spalding

It's all in how you frame it

"Dusk in the transept" (Chartres Cathedral)

Artist: Lloyd Rees

A traveler from Italy came to the French town of Chartres, to see the great the church that was being built there. Arriving at the end of the day, he went to the site just as the workmen were leaving for home. He asked one man, covered with dust, what he did there. The man replied that he was a stonemason, he spent his days carving rocks. Another man, when asked, said he was a glassblower who spent his days making slabs of colored glass. And still another workman replied that he was a blacksmith who pounded iron for a living. Wandering into the deepening gloom of the unfinished edifice, the traveler came upon an older woman armed with a broom, sweeping up the stone chips, and wood shavings, and glass shards from the day’s work. “And what are you doing,” he asked. The woman paused, leaning on her broom, looked up toward the high arches, replied, “Me? I’m building a cathedral for the glory of almighty God!”

-- Robert Fulghum

Yes, it's the same Robert Fulghum who wrote All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

Prayer

I was browsing in Barnes and Noble tonight and picked up the lastest book by Anne Lamott. In it she quotes Kathleen Norris who said the following:

Prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.

So we see that prayer is really a risky business. And it is truly the grandest adventure of all.

Blessing

Streets of Haiti

Artist: Maccene Laurent

The Spirituality and Practice website offers the following today:

Another practice invites us to bless strangers quietly, secretly. Offer it to people you notice on the street, in the market, on the bus. "May you be happy. May you be at peace." Feel the blessing move through your body as you offer it. Notice how you both receive some benefit from the blessing. Gently, almost without effort, each and every blessing becomes a Sabbath.

— Wayne Muller in Sabbath

To Practice This Thought: Send out a blessing of happiness and peace to a stranger.

This is also known as the metta or lovingkindness practice. One form I learned is "May you be happy, may you be well, may everything be well in your life." We can do this for ourselves, for a loved one, for a friend, for a stranger and then, when we have a fair amount of practice, for a difficult person. This is a very skillful strategy for learning to love our enemies.

A Dietrich Bonhoeffer prayer

"Light in the Darkness"

Artist: Alexah Strongheart

I Cannot Do This Alone

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.

--- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A little break

Hi, folks. I just need a little break from blogging. I'll be back soon!

Grief

Artist: Devakrishna Marco Giollo

I just found this poem. Simple. Powerful:

God it hurts

I said 'God it hurts'
And God said 'I Know'
I said 'God I cry alot'
And God said
'That's why I gave you tears'
I said 'God I get so depressed'
And God said 'That why I gave you sunshine'
I said 'God I feel Alone'
And God said 'That's why I gave you loved ones'
I said 'God my loved one is dead'
And God said 'I watched mine nailed to the cross'
I said 'God Where are they? '
And God said 'Mine is on my right and yours is in the light.'
I said 'God it hurts'
And God said 'I know'

-- Amy Louise Kerswell

Another wonderful Buechner quote

This is so true:

The one thing a clenched fist can't do is to accept the helping hand.

— Frederick Buechner

God runs toward us!

"The Prodigal Son"

Artist: He Qi

There's a marquee outside a church on my way to my office that says the following this week:

Live simply
Love deeply
Serve one another
Pursue God

I really like the first three bits of advice. I have to disagree with the injuction to "pursue God", however. God doesn't need pursuing. Rather, God pursues us. Remember the "The Hound of Heaven"?

The angels will dance...

"Dancing Angels"

Artist: Alfred Gockel

We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within, the little whisper that says,

Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea. You have a part to play. Have faith.

We can decide to risk that he is indeed there, watching, caring, cherishing us as we love and accept love. The world will be a better place for it. And wherever they are, the angels will dance.

--Joan Wester Anderson