OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Wednesday of Hope – Life Worth Living
Before, I always lived in anticipation . . . that it was all a preparation for something else, something “greater,” more “genuine.” But that feeling has dropped away from me completely. I live here and now, this minute, this day, to the full, and the life is worth living.
– Etty Hillesum, Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum
Longing for a Sense of Wonder
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.
– Rachel Carson
Wednesday of Hope – In a Power Greater than Ourselves
It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable.
– Maya Angelou
We Are Doubly Blessed
Gratitude makes us feel bursting with delight, just to remember the gifts we have received. Thus we are doubly blessed when we receive something: for the gift itself and later, in recall, for the miracle of having been given it.
– M.J. Ryan
Wednesday of Hope – Grateful that there Is More Good in the World
Men frequently think that the evils in the world are more numerous than the good things; many sayings and songs of the nations dwell on this idea. …Not only common people make this mistake, but even many who think they are wise.
– Maimonides
Wednesday of Hope – Gratitude and Hope in the Face of Terror
Etty Hillesum is such example of courage, compassion and hope in the face of the most horrific times in our recent history.
As life becomes harder and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more good things of life become unexpected gifts that we accept with gratitude.
– Etty Hillesum, Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943, p.466, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Gratitude in Abundance
Giving thanks for abundance is sweeter than the abundance itself.
– Jalaluddin Rumi
Wednesday of Hope – with Gratitude
Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree which does not force its sap and stands confident in the storms of spring without the fear that after them may come no summer. It does come. But it comes only to the patient, who are there as though eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly still and wide. I learn it daily, learn it with pain to which I am grateful: patience is everything!
– Rainer Maria Rilke
Grateful for All Gifts
During the month of November it’s been my practice to focus on Gratitude. And so I continue . . .
O Great Spirit, I awake to another sun, grateful for gifts bestowed, granted one by one.
– Twylah Nitsch
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