The Sanctuary
It could be said that God’s foot is so vast
that this entire earth is but a
field on His toe,
and all the forests in this world
came from the same root of just
a single hair of His.
What then is not a sanctuary?
Where then can I not kneel
and pray at a shrine
made holy by His presence?
St. Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380)
I Had to Seek the Physician
I had to seek the physician
Because of the pain this world
caused me.
I could not believe what happened when I got there.
I found my Teacher.
Before I left, he said,
“Up for a little homework, yet?”
“Okay,” I replied.
“Well then, try thanking all the people
who have caused you pain.
They helped you come to me.”
Kabir (c. 1440 – 1518)
It is possible I am pushing through
solid rock
in flint-like layers, as the ore lies,
alone;
I am such a long way in
I see no way through
and no space; everything is
close to my face
and everything close to my face
is stone.
I don't have much knowledge
yet in grief-
so this massive darkness
makes me small.
You be the master: make
yourself fierce, break in;
then your great transforming
will happen to me,
and my great grief cry will
happen to you.
Rilke
Luke 17:21 “The kingdom of God is among you.”
“On All Saints’ Day, it is not just the saints of the church that we should remember inour prayers, but all the foolish ones and wise ones, the shy ones and the overbearing ones, the broken ones and whole ones, the despots and tosspots and crackpots of our lives who, one way or another, have been our particular fathers and mothers and saints, and whom we loved without knowing we loved them and by whom we were helped to whatever little we may have, or ever hope to have, of some kind of seedy sainthood of our own.”
The Sacred Journey by Frederick Buechner
“…no encounter with a being or a thing in the course of our life lacks a hidden significance…If we think only in terms of momentary purposes, without developing a genuine relationship to the beings and things in whose life we ought to take part, as they in ours, then we shall ourselves be debarred from true fulfilled existence.”
The Way of Man by Martin Buber
Music : Johannes Brahms, Ein deutsches Requiem (op.45),
IV - Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnugen
Renee Fleming, Sacred Songs, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark O’Connor / Violin,
#16 Amazing Grace
It seems to me that if a little flower could speak, it would simply tell what God has done for it without trying to hide its blessings. It would not say, under the pretext of false humility, that it is not beautiful or without perfume, that the sun has taken away its splendor and the storm has broken its stem when it knows that all this is untrue. The flower about to tell her story rejoices at having to publish the totally gratuitous gifts of Jesus. She knows that nothing in herself was capable of attracting the divine glances, and God’s mercy alone brought about everything that is good in her.
St. Therese of Lisieux
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