Ash Wednesday Thoughts

Life does not accommodate you; it shatters you. Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition.
– Florida Scott-Maxwell – The Measure of My Days
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Let Us Live the Questions

We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the living and fruitful contradictions and paradoxes of which true life is full.
– Thomas Merton
How could we not but leave this alone?
                                                                  How could we not but leave this alone?

Roll Me to a Sky-Wide View

If my mind gets trapped inside
Just roll me to my sky-wide view
Where I will feast on cumulous and light
And tell you that art with just my eyes.
– Jane Brainin, With irrepressible spirit, anticipating the toll of ALS
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As I read these lines, I fondly remember Marsha, my sister-in-law, who died of ALS several years ago.

Sparks of God’s Brilliance

All living beings are, so to speak, sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance. These sparks mere from God like rays of the sun. 

– Hildegard of Bingen

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The Wisdom of Abraham Heschel

Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge. 

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

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May all of us enjoy the gift of wonder, or as Mary Oliver put it, “. . . be a bride to amazement.”

What Might I Become?

May I become an island for those seeking dry land
A lamp for those needing light,
A place of rest for those who desire one,
And a servant for those needing service.

–  Shantideva, “May I Become an Island”

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May I become a lamp

The Renewable Resource of Hope

As we face the grand ecological crisis of our time, our most important renewable resource is hope. We simply must put it on with our shoes each morning.

-Barbara Kingsolver

As I look to the horizon, I put on hope
As I look to the horizon, I put on hope

We Learn of God through Creation

If the soul could have known God without the world, the world would never have been created.

– Meister Eckhart

What a wonderful way to learn of God!
What a wonderful way to learn of God!

 

With What Am I Willing to Struggle in 2016?

When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results.

– Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 160

Remains of ancient glaciers in Glacier National Park
Remains of ancient glaciers in Glacier National Park

Christmas Greetings

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May the gifts of Peace, Hope, and Joy be yours this Christmas and throughout the year.

And may Christ on our streets or at our borders find a home -and may an angel or a simple shepherd open our eyes.