OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
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
Wednesday of Hope – Hope of All Hallows Eve
In our Christian tradition, the eve of a feast is the beginning of the celebration of that feast. Today is Halloween, or originally, All Hallows Eve – the evening before All Saints Day – October 31st. On All Saints Day – November 1st– we remember all those faithful women and men who have died, but never received “official” recognition that their lives were holy. Truly, all of us are holy . . . all of us are saints.
We can recall that wonderful song, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Those words are our hope, “O, Lord, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in!” The other feast we celebrate at this time is All Souls Day, sometimes known as The Day of the Dead – November 2nd– when we remember those who have died, and hold them in our prayers.
So for this these three days, we celebrate three feasts that remember all those who have died, and we are reminded that we too will die. Our faith in the resurrection gives us confidence in the joyful communion we will share with those we have loved when we are fully united with our loving God.
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