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Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Not Shielded from the Wind
Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms, you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.
– Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Wednesday of Hope – Ash Wednesday
On this Ash Wednesday, what more can we hope to be than this?
Strive to be uncynical, to be a hope-giving force, to be a steward of substance.
– Maria Popova
In Harmony with Earth
First thing in the morning, before you meet or greet anyone, remember to greet all of nature, all visible and invisible creatures. Say to them: “I am grateful for your work, I love you and want to be in harmony with you!” At this very moment, in response to your greeting, all of nature will open to you and send you energy for the entire day.
– Omraam Mikhael Aivanho
Wednesday of Hope – Hope in the Dark
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and. work: you don’t give up.
– Anne Lamott
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
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