OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Why Are We Here?
We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Where Does Beauty Take You?
When we come upon beautiful things . . . they act like small tears in the surface of the world that pull us through to some vaster space.
– Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just
We Pray for Peace
Today on United Nations Day we pray for peace.
The prayer is adapted from Education for Justice.
Hold On!
Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, even if it is a tree which stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, even if it is a long way from here. Hold on to life, even when it is easier letting go. Hold on to my hand, even when I have gone away from you.
– Pueblo Blessing
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hue
What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground.
– Henry David Thoreau
And What Is a Friend?
A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.
– Arabian Proverb
The Gift of a Friend
The whole of the holy life is good friends.
– The Buddha
More on Diversity
Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.
– Ikkyu – Zen-monk poet, 1394-1481
God – Creator of Unity and Diversity
God made so many different kinds of people; why would God allow only one way to worship?
– Martin Buber
Life from Broken Branches and Fallen Leaves
As the tree is fertilized by its own broken branches and fallen leaves and grows out of its own decay, so [people] and nations are bettered and improved by trial and refined out of broken hopes and blighted expectations.
– F.W. Robinson
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