Invisible Connections (The Beauty of Our Lives) …

Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and his messengers.
― Brenda Ueland from If You Want To Write

The Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers. Continue reading “Invisible Connections (The Beauty of Our Lives) …” →

We Are In The Process Of Becoming (International Women’s Day) …

Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
— Augustine of Hippo from Spirituality and Liberation: Overcoming the Great Fallacy

May you know the presence
of those who have passed
through the desert before you.
May they point the way
toward freedom
and sustain you
with their stories.
In the wilderness,
may there be wellsprings.
May there be wings.
— Jan L. Richardson from In the Sanctuary of Women

Chutzpah and Humility

In Healing the Heart of Democracy I talk about five habits of the heart. But when I give talks about it, I say, “If five is too many for you to hold onto, you really only need two. You need chutzpah and humility.”

Continue reading “We Are In The Process Of Becoming (International Women’s Day) …” →

Desert Day 05: Why God Makes Us Wait …

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven …
— Ecclesiastes 3:1

The entire life of a good Christian is an exercise in holy desire. You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when God comes you may see and be utterly satisfied. Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. Continue reading “Desert Day 05: Why God Makes Us Wait …” →

My Calling Is To Love …

Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.
— Maya Angelou

We have spoken here of similar acts. In different acts we find a man acting cruelly through charity and acting agreeably through wickedness. A father beats his child, and a slave-master is kind to his slave. If you were to choose between the two things, lashes and kindness, who would not choose kindness and flee from lashes? If you consider the persons, charity does the beating, wickedness is kind. See what we have praised, because the acts of man are not distinguished except by being rooted in charity. For many things can appear to be good and not proceed from the root of charity. Therefore once for all this short command is given to you: Continue reading →

The Greatest Prayer is Patience …

Prayer for Patience …

Lord, teach me to be patient – with life, with people,and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my ownand to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein.

Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds. Amen.

Prayer Source: Unknown
Originally Posted on: A Catholic Life

Quotes on Patience:

The greatest prayer is patience — Buddha
(see also Healing Anger: The Power Of Patience From A Buddhist Perspective)

Patience lives in the gap between our experience of an event and our response to that experience. If we spend time with our experience — the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that arise–we can gain insight. Wisdom arises as we see things with greater clarity. Forgiveness has space to develop; fires have a chance to cool.
— Allan Lokos from Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials.
Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
— Comte de Buffon

Patience is the companion of wisdom. — St. Augustine

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why God Makes Us Wait …

Suppose you are going to fill some holder or container, and you know you will be given a large amount. Then you set about stretching your sack or wineskin or whatever it is. Why? Because you know the quantity you will have to put in it, and your eyes tell you there is not enough room. By stretching it, therefore, you increase the capacity of the sack, and this is how God deals with us. Simply by making us wait God increases our desire, which in turn enlarges the capacity of our soul, making it able to receive what is to be given to us.

— St. Augustine from Love One Another, My Friends: St. Augustine’s Homilies on the First Letter of John and first posted by Jim Manney on Ignatian Spirituality.

Flood the Path with Light …

Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, “How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.
— Henri J. M. Nouwen from Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith

Prayer

God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to Your honour and glory.
— Attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo