OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
Gratitude for a Smile
For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.
– Elie Wiesel
I find Elie Wiesel’s writings inspiring. What courage and faith they demonstrate in the face of one of the great horrors of history – the holocaust. Can I say, as she does, that every hour is grace? Is there gratitude in my heart each time I am greeted by a smile?
Just One Drop of Water
Another perspective on the importance of just one drop of water –
Penetrate the heart of just one drop of water, and you will be flooded by a hundred oceans.
– Mahmûd Shabistarî
The Mystic Rose Garden
It’s Okay to Be Just a Drop in the Ocean
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
– Blessed Mother Teresa
Seek First
Today’s Gospel Reading is Matthew 6:24-34, and we are reminded.
Seek first Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
Let Yourself Be Drawn
Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.
– Jalaluddin Rumi
Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks
God Offers the Beauty of the Sunset to All of Us, without Distinction
Tuesday’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 5:43-48.
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. This will prove that you are children of God. For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your sisters and brothers, what is so praiseworthy about that? Don’t the Gentiles do the same? So be perfect, just as your Abba God is perfect.”
Look At the Moon
When you look at the Moon, you think, ‘I’m really small. What are my problems?’ It sets things into perspective. We should all look at the Moon a bit more often.
— Source Unknown
Top of Gold HIll
From tomorrow, Monday, June 10th to Sunday, June 17th I will be on retreat at Santa Sabina Center.
This morning I went on a hike up to the top of Gold Hill; there is a Nike Tower at the summit. It’s about a 2 mile hike up to the top. When I’ve gone up there before, one could walk all around it, but now there’s a fence that keeps you off that circular path. So I couldn’t capture quite so much of it as I would have liked. But the panorama of the Bay that could be seen from up there was amazing!
Because of the retreat, there won’t be any posts until next week.
Blessings to all, Pat
Think Different
Think in ways you’ve never thought before.
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you’ve ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.
Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.
When someone knocks on the door,
Think that he’s about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time,
Or that it’s been decided that if you lie down no one will die.
Marveling at the Beauty of the Created
This, then, is salvation:
When we marvel at the beauty of created
things and praise their beautiful creator.
— Meister Eckhart
Dominican Mystic
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