AUTUMN GREETINGS! How quickly the seasons pass ... seasons of nature, seasons of life. 'Tis good to remember that in eternal time there is only Love, Peace, and Unity.
GREETINGS! The summertimes of our lives are times to rest and appreciate who we are, to relax and enjoy, to celebrate the extravagance and exuberance of creation, to remember to pause, to let the joy and wonder of becoming like a child again well up within us. Summer re-creation offers times to be free to be nothing, to be present in grateful receptivity, wordless awe, silent simplicity ... times to dip into the well of contemplation.
May the blessings of the holiday Spirit be with each of you! Advent is a season to recall once again who we really are and to humbly accept it. We are human beings, whose privilege it is to have God as our destiny ... human beings, to whom God has given Divine Life from the beginning ... and, in the process of becoming fulfilled, we must pass under the fiery glance of God. Since we keep fighting off the approaching God, it is always God who must lay the groundwork for Love's approach, who must tame and train the wild human stallion for its advent destiny. And only when we live panting in the corral, do we open up to God's life-giving breath.
GREETINGS IN ABUNDANCE to all friends of Silence this harvest season! As we recollect the gifts of this year, may we also be mindful of the Source of our deepest blessings. Edith Stein, in "Thoughts", a compilation of some of her writings, reminds us of how every moment is to be a time for giving thanks:
DEAR FRIENDS OF SILENCE ... No need to say how vital is the call for prayer in these perilous days! A friend recently wrote that Friends of Silence reminds her that we are not as helpless or powerless as she was feeling. We can pray. We can radiate God's peace, love and harmony by the silent offering of our selves. And out of the Silence, we can trust that we shall hear what God may be calling us to do.
PEACE and BLESSINGS be with you! As we bask in the joy of summer activities and have the leisure to relax and re-create ourselves, may we also partake in the blessings of spiritual communion that come in the Silence. And, as we listen to the deep silence of our innermost spirit, the divine Spirit within, we may hear the voice of the silence, the sound of heavenly music.
May the flowers of May brighten your hearts! GREETINGS to all Friends of Silence. Recently, in recollecting personal Emmaus experiences, we found a paragraph in Douglas Steere's book, TOGETHER IN SOLITUDE, which beautifully describes that sense of being present to another that comes out of the deep silence of our hearts:
BLESSINGS to all Friends of Silence in this season of awakening growth, budding trees, rebirth, resurrection. In native American spirituality, Spring is a time of preparation to grow in the proper way toward illumination, wisdom and enlightenment ... a time to ready ourselves to soar as eagles!
SPRING GREETINGS! A friend of Silence recently wrote asking, "How does one learn to live in the moment, to be truly present to the now?" Besides suggesting Br. Lawrence's PRACTISING THE PRESENCE OF GOD, the following quote from an article, "Present to the Earth", by Pat Feldsien in Creation Magazine seems to the point:
WARM GREETINGS to all Friends of Silence! Every once in a while it seems good to give thanks to all the friends -- living and dead -- who offer the gift of their guidance and insights by way of writing. Books like THE CLOUD UNKNOWING ... one can only marvel and be grateful for the simple, radical and profound guidance that unknown author offers for the life of solitude, silence and prayer appropriate to all times:
BLESSINGS to all Friends of Silence as we enter this new year, this new decade! How good it is to be on a spiritual pilgrimage with so many who honor the need for silence and prayer in our times. And, how marvelous are the signs of hope for the people in so many countries today. Let us continue to offer our selves in the Silence for all our sisters and brothers who continue to live in oppression and injustice and for the healing of our planet Earth. May this be the decade that ushers in peace and justice for all ... the decade when love reigns in every heart!
Holiday Greetings to all Friends of Silence! May each one of you be blessed this holy season and throughout the new year with the joy ... peace ... gratitude ... and, love that arises from the inner sanctum of our hearts, where love is ever born anew. Two offerings from a new book, SONGS FOR EVERY SEASON, seem especially timely:
Greetings to all Friends of Silence in this season of giving thanks and of preparing our hearts once again to be open to and changed by a new infilling of love. As our calendars get filled and life's demands increase, how much more do we need to take time to be still and to remember who and whose we are. In the winter issue of Crossroads last year, Madeleine L'Engle reminded us:
Greetings to all Friends of Silence in this season of reaping the fruits of the harvest ... a good time to meditate on the seeds we sow in our hearts, on the fruits we offer the world, on what will be the harvest of our heart-seeds. And, 'tis always the season to stop and reflect on how much time we are giving to prayer in the Silence, which provides the fertile setting for the Life that is in us to grow.
Greetings to all Friends of Silence over these warm days of summer, the season that enables many to find special times for re-creation and soul-tending.
Greetings to all Friends of Silence as we celebrate the Summer Solstice and move into the season of new growth! A friend called recently to share her new insights on silence with us through Ingram Smith's book, TRUTH IS A PATHLESS LAND:
Greetings to all Friends of Silence -- and welcome to many new friends seeking to offer their gift of silence to our oh, so noisy world! One new friend came by way of a book this month: Jean Sulivan, who has been acclaimed as the most significant inspirational writer in France since George Bernanos, shares his spiritual journey in MORNING LIGHT:
Spring greetings to Friends of Silence! Each new season offers a call to dive deep enough into the calm depths of our heart to reach the serene Silent One. In this way we gift the world with an inner stillness and silence that helps to keep the balance and renew the earth.
Warm greetings to all Friends of Silence this month of Valentine love, celebrated so commercially, and the beginning of Lent -- the journey to the Passion of Christ, celebrated in the hermitage of each hear where Love abides. While Valentine's Day invites us to express love and affection to special people in our lives, Lent calls us to reflect, pray and respond to Love that lives in the suffering world. One cannot be a contemplative and be spared the Cross ... the cries of the poor, the anguish of injustice and oppression, the agonies of those afflicted by war, disease, famine, disasters, the raping of our mother earth ... One only has to read the daily news to encounter over and over again the Cross.
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