OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
What Is Life?
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset.
– Crowfoot, a leader of the Blackfoot nation
Wednesday of Hope – Resilience, Resistance, Tenacity
Optimism
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs — all this resinous, unretractable earth.– Jane Hirshfield, Given Sugar, Given Salt
Music Gives Wings
Music…gives wings to the mind, a soul to the universe, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, a life to everything.
– Plato
Wednesday of Hope – I Do the Dance – I Must
Part of the Symphony I serve. I do the dance I must. I plant trees, but I am not the doer of this work. I am the facilitator, the instrument—I am one part of the symphony. I know there is an overall scheme to this symphony that I cannot understand. In some way, we are each playing our own part. It is not for me to judge or criticize the life or work of another. All I know is that this is my dance. I would plant trees today even if I knew for certain that the world would end tomorrow.
– Balbir Matbur, Heron Dance Interview (Issue 11)
Acting Compassionately Naturally
When we know ourselves to be connected to all others, acting compassionately is simply the natural thing to do.
– Rachel Naomi Remen
Wednesday of Hope – Today’s Potential
We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but today is overflowing with potential.
– Allan Lokos, Through the Flames
The Blessing that Flows through Everything
The more alert we become to the blessing that flows into us through everything we touch, the more our own touch will bring blessing.
– David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart
Wednesday of Hope – A Bridge or Plank to Hope
When the bridge is gone, the narrowest plank becomes precious.
-Hungarian Proverb
Strength of the New Day
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Wednesday of Hope – A Full or Empty Heart?
Why fill the heart with hopes? Leave it empty for God.
– Robert Mertens
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